If it's not American, the French won't go see it.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
When I make an American movie it's going to come out all over the world-it doesn't happen the same way for an Italian film or a French film.
France loves American cinema because when an American remake is successful, it makes us money to produce more French films.
The French have got to understand that a film is so expensive that it can no longer afford to be regional or even national in scope.
When Americans shoot movies they aim at the entire planet. When the French make movies, they aim at Paris.
In France, if you have any sort of talent, you'd better keep it here. And if you're going to go abroad, it had better not be America. The old battle - American versus Frog cinema. It's ridiculous.
I pity the French Cinema because it has no money. I pity the American Cinema because it has no ideas.
The French people need to have all the facts so they can choose. And I won't be running away from it or hiding from it.
In movies, there are some things the French do that Americans are increasingly incapable of doing. One is honoring the complexities of youth. It's a quiet, difficult undertaking, requiring subtlety in a filmmaker and perception and patience from us.
If you make a film too American, it won't travel. It will have no life outside of its own country.
The French consider themselves the guardians of the world's culture and do not bother to hide the fact, which is annoying, but Paris is still where good Americans want to go when they die - and Brits, Russians, and Chinese as well, these days.