Frederick Wiseman
Frederick Wiseman
Frederick Wisemanis an American filmmaker, documentarian, and theatrical director...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth1 January 1930
CountryUnited States of America
Frederick Wiseman quotes about
optimistic thinking pessimistic
I think my movies aren't sentimental. I think my movies are funny and sad and realistic. Not realistic in the sense that they're documentaries, but realistic in the sense that they're not idealistic, they're not optimistic, not pessimistic, and not propagandistic. They're an analysis of a situation. I call it as I see it, so to speak.
thinking people style
I'm very careful of not being critical of other people's movies, which work in different styles. I think some of my movies can be interpreted as critical of their subjects.
cutting thinking editing
I think I have an obligation, to the people who have consented to be in the film, to make a film that is fair to their experience. The editing of my films is a long and selective process. I do feel that when I cut a sequence, I have an obligation to the people who are in it, to cut it so that it fairly represents what I felt was going on at the time, in the original event. I don't try and cut it to meet the standards of a producer or a network or a television show.
character thinking novelists
I don't like to read novels where the novelist tells me what to think about the situation and the characters. I prefer to discover for myself.
audiences believe lots orthodox ways works
There are lots of different ways to make film. I don't believe there has to be any orthodox way to making movies, or any rules. It's what works for the filmmaker, and, theoretically, the audience.
addition american-director confuse historians hope next pictures
I hope that not only my documentaries, but everybody's documentaries, last. It will really confuse historians in the next century, because they'll have, in addition to all the print material, they'll have all these pictures to look at.
anyone chose felt fiction interested maybe whatever
They're all movies. I've always just done whatever interested me and this interested me. I never felt any need to rationalize to myself or to anyone else why I chose to do a fiction film. Maybe I'll do another fiction film, maybe I won't; maybe I'll do another documentary, maybe I won't.
effort existence
Making movies is an effort, is an attempt to leave a trace of your existence.
sentimental busy nostalgic
I'm too busy to be nostalgic, which is one of the reasons to keep busy. I'm not a very sentimental person.
believe years forever
One's relationship to time is complicated, and sometimes a day will drag on forever and sometimes it'll be over in a flash. When you look back, "I'm old," after 40 or 60 years, I can't believe I'm as old as I am.
real ruins documentaries
Documentary filmmaking ruins you for real life, because you learn to be extremely attentive.
tired trying attention
In moviemaking, you learn to pay attention to detail, because so much is in the detail. And when you're shooting, you try to be very alert to what's going on, even if you're tired.
manipulation
Everything about a movie is manipulation.
mind world way
Anybody whose mind is functioning at all can't be content with the way the world works.