I didn't want to do movies with hundreds of camels crossing the desert followed by tanks and this and that.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I would watch films like 'Frances Ha' and 'The Squid and the Whale,' and wonder why we weren't making these beautiful slice-of-life movies. Then I thought, 'Why am I not doing it?'
I have been agreeably disappointed in my idea of the camels. They are far from unpleasant to ride; in fact, it is much less fatiguing than riding on horseback, and even with the little practice I have yet had, I find it shakes me less.
All I wanted with that film was to represent the possibility that there might be normal people who are Muslim or Arab with the same fears, responsibilities, hopes.
I have absolutely no empathy for camels. I didn't care for being abused in the Middle East by those horrible, horrible, horrible creatures. They don't like people. It's not at all like the relationship between horses and humans.
A camel is a very awkward animal to ride, and it's very hard to get used to because they're not very graceful.
'Shotgun Stories' and 'Take Shelter'... I was willing to make those with no money and no time. With 'Mud,' I just wanted to protect it until I could have the resources. It's a real tricky movie.
I've never much been interested in doing films that no one gets to see.
There's enough of a willingness in the West to do sympathetic movies about Arab roles.
On one hand, as a filmmaker, I don't want to make a movie with guns everywhere.
I always look at 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail.' They talked about how they wrote this movie with horses, and then they realized that horses are super-expensive and time-consuming. 'Why don't we just change it to coconuts?' That's part of my process.