William Friedkin
William Friedkin
William Friedkin is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing The French Connection in 1971 and The Exorcist in 1973; for the former, he won the Academy Award for Best Director. Some of his other films include Sorcerer, Cruising, To Live and Die in L.A., Jade, Rules of Engagement, The Hunted, Bug, and Killer Joe...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth29 August 1935
CityChicago, IL
CountryUnited States of America
hero believe evil
The thing that interests me is the good and evil in everybody. I don't have conventional heroes in the films that I directed, because I believe there's good and evil in everybody.
believe gimmicks film
I don't like 3D. I don't believe there is any film that I have seen and loved that would have been improved by a scintilla in 3D. To me, it's just a gimmick.
believe thinking wind
I don't believe that Citizen Kane or Gone With the Wind, or any damn picture that you can name, would be better off in 3D. I think it's a gimmick. I find 3D distracting.
struggle believe angel
I believe it's true that there's good and evil in everyone and it's a constant struggle to have your better angels prevail.
believe dvds color
With all of my films that are on DVD and Blu-ray, I have spent weeks with them in a color timing room. Just changing or enhancing them. I have been desaturating the color. Sometimes I will make a scene bluer or redder. I do use the new medium. I believe in it.
believe squirrels ankles
I believe today that there is no film and no shot in a film that is worth a squirrel getting a sprained ankle.
believe disbelief ifs
If you call yourself a non-believer, you're referring to disbelief in something, and you're acknowledging that there is something to believe in or not.
believe struggle hero
One of my themes is that there is good and evil in everyone. I was not out to make these guys heroes. I really don't believe in heroes. The best of people have a dark side and it's a constant struggle for the better side to survive and to thrive.
believe complaining directors
But the audience is right. They're always, always right. You hear directors complain that the advertising was lousy, the distribution is no good, the date was wrong to open the film. I don't believe that. The audience is never wrong. Never.
determine dice high money next number people plaything roll rollers sleeping today
To me, film right now is dormant. It's a sleeping giant. It's the plaything of corporations. The people who determine what American film is today are no different from high rollers who go to Las Vegas. They just want to take all the money and put it on one big number and roll the dice on that number and if it craps out, next number. Next case.
audience cop court hands hold law ready type
The audience was ready for that type of character, a cop who would take the law into his own hands and hold court in the street,
almost american-director life pressed share tense
I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel pressed and tense almost every day of my life about something or other. And I think it's the one thing, as I look into people's eyes, that I think I share with almost everybody.
angeles cardinals catholic chicago church depiction drive embraced endorsed exists exorcism exorcist faith leaders literal los power promoted represents ritual roman virtually york
The leaders of the Catholic Church endorsed The Exorcist ; virtually promoted it as much as they could. The Cardinals of New York and Los Angeles and Chicago and the other big cities, all over the world, they endorsed it because it represents a literal depiction of the Roman ritual of exorcism which still exists in the Catholic faith. It's still there. The power of faith to drive out demons. And this film showed that and they embraced it.
sweet superhero way
I can't sit through the superhero films. But I watched Draft Day, and it was kind of sweet in an old-fashioned way.