Michel Hazanavicius quotes

But I don't think of myself as a foreigner or a Frenchman! I just think of myself as a director. Whether I'm French or Australian or whatever, it's really not important. (Michel Hazanavicius)

When you're with your wife, you don't say I love you to your wife every day but the ways you look at her and your actions are another way to communicate. Don't focus on dialogue, only focus on what you're expressing.

Michel Hazanavicius

I always loved silent movies. I was not a specialist, but I loved them. And when I started directing, I became really fascinated by the format - how it works, the device of the silent movie. It's not the same form of expression as a talkie. The lack of sounds makes you participate in the storytelling.

Michel Hazanavicius

But sometimes I think you have to try to do things that people don't think are doable.

Michel Hazanavicius

I only have one obsession - not to be boring.

Michel Hazanavicius

I thought 'The Artist' was a perfect way to find a good balance. The artistic challenge is obvious because the film is black-and-white and its silent, but I did my best to make the movie accessible and easy to watch. I really don't want to make elitist movies. I really try hard to work for the audience. Audiences are smart. They get everything.

Michel Hazanavicius

Bernard Herrmann was a genius, a great, great composer.

Michel Hazanavicius

French cinema audiences usually don't express anything. Certainly not satisfaction.

Michel Hazanavicius

If you try to make a silent movie with a normal script and you just pull out the dialogue, you will have big problems with the actors because you will ask them to tell a story that you don't know.

Michel Hazanavicius

French people are strange about America, I think.

Michel Hazanavicius

To me the recognition of the audience is part of the filmmaking process. When you make a movie, it's for them. (Michel Hazanavicius)

Hollywood is much more than America. Hollywood belongs to all of the planet.

Michel Hazanavicius

Actually, I met a lot of directors and most of them have that fantasy to make a silent movie because for directors it's the purest way to tell a story. It's about creating images that tell a story and you don't need dialogue for that.

Michel Hazanavicius

An idea is something you work on to make it work and a desire is much deeper in a way.

Michel Hazanavicius

I make almost all the decisions on set and have to deal with all the financial aspects.

Michel Hazanavicius

I am unusual for a Frenchman - I have absolutely nothing against the United States.

Michel Hazanavicius

I think we are at the very beginning of high changes, not only in terms of digital film, but in the way the movies will be screened, whether they'll be screened on phones, on computers - on everything.

Michel Hazanavicius

Sometimes when an actor says something almost perfect, but you know you have to edit it, if you tell them to change something immediately, it will come out great.

Michel Hazanavicius

The fact that I made a special movie with an old-fashioned style - even if it's a mix between with modern and old-fashioned things - must mean I feel both ways about change. In a way I'm resisting, but in a way adapting myself to the times.

Michel Hazanavicius

I'm very happy in France making movies.

Michel Hazanavicius