It's not a great feeling for a film to suffer financially, but you can't sit and mope about it. You just have to just move on to next project - I try to always be working on a new project when my last one hits the theaters.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
And as a filmmaker, I'm trying to unhook myself from this idea that unless you have a brilliant, long, enormously lucrative theatrical run, that your movie somehow failed. And I don't believe that.
So many things have to come together to get a creatively successful and financially successful film. Sometimes you'll have a movie that you're very proud of, and you think it transcended all of your expectations, but it doesn't come out at the right time. I have done movies that have never been released. That can be depressing.
You still get the movies made. A filmmaker can always scrape up money to do a movie. The passion drives it. And you'll get the money. Money's the easiest thing. But the hardest thing is finding a way for people to see your movie.
So many people wait around for funding, and if they're unsuccessful, they don't make the film; if you've got a good idea, that seems so pointless. There's always a way of doing it; you've just got to find it.
I just can't get excited about money as a motivation in a film. It leaves me cold.
I think, unfortunately or fortunately, the reality of Hollywood is that if your movie makes money, they'll make another one.
I've been lucky enough to work with some great directors, and I don't want to throw that away by doing one big horrible big budget film.
There's a strange sense of accomplishment in making an independent film. Everything's against you; there's no time, and even less money - you bring a bottle of glue, chip in twenty bucks, and hope you all make it through the day. If you manage to finish it and it actually turns out to be pretty good, it's thrilling.
The thing about movies these days is that the commerce end of it is so inflated and financiers are just expecting this enormous return on their investment.
If a film is not a success, then that's just the way things are. Nothing I can do can make a difference. I have stopped worrying about it.