'The Blind Side' took forever to get it out of 20th Century Fox in turnaround. It was one of three different movies I was involved with then. 'The Blind Side' just happened to be the one that got made. John Lee Hancock More Quotes by John Lee Hancock More Quotes From John Lee Hancock Someone is going to win and someone is going to lose. That's also what happens in almost every movie - someone is going to win and someone is going to lose. John Lee Hancock loses winning happens Somebody might say that they always wanted to be a fly-fishing guide in Montana and maybe they'll never get to do that but just by the virtue of having said it out loud, I think there's some power in that. John Lee Hancock montana fishing thinking You set out to tell a good story. You don't do it because there is a deep message involved because the movie is almost always bad when you do that. John Lee Hancock involved messages stories I think any time you've got a story based on a true story, no matter how accurate it is, obviously it's still fictitious. John Lee Hancock matter stories thinking A good deed is a good deed. John Lee Hancock good-deeds deeds I'm not only a writer, but have directed and produced, know the difficulties of the line producer, can deal with the studio, can talk with the director and get his or her vision and help exact that. I think it just gives you more tools. John Lee Hancock vision giving thinking Christian audience, I think, have grown very tired of movies that try to pander to them. For instance if someone goes, "Ok, we're designing what we're going to do with this movie. It's a Christian movie and they'll eat it up." And you know what? Consumers are smarter than that. They go, "The movie isn't that great and he thought that I would just be a sucker and plop my $10 down for it?" Because you're looking down at the audience. You can't pander to an audience. John Lee Hancock tired christian thinking I like some time away to recharge the batteries, not only physically, but emotionally so that I get to the point where I'm just dying to direct again and then that's the right time to do it again. John Lee Hancock batteries time-away dying I've got twins and a lovely wife and a great life and I don't want to miss that. So if I'm going to miss that it's got to be for something really good. John Lee Hancock lovely wife missing I usually have to find something where I go, "I have to do this." Sometimes you don't even know what the question you're trying to answer is, but you go, "This is something I need to explore and want to explore, and it's inside me in a way that I think I can do a good job with." John Lee Hancock trying jobs thinking Every time you do a true story - and I've done a few - you have to look in the mirror and say, 'That's close enough. I'm comfortable with this.' You're always going to compress time; you're going to change the order of things. But I don't think you want to tell a big lie. You want to think that you're embracing the truth. John Lee Hancock mirror change truth time Every director knows it is his job to be manipulative. When you make an edit, you are trying to manipulate. John Lee Hancock director job you trying If America had a motto, it would be pull yourself up by the bootstraps, work harder than the next guy, have a goal and achieve it. John Lee Hancock yourself motto achieve work A corporation that is publicly traded, it has one goal: to make money. It doesn't have a soul. If it does have a soul, it comes from the people who run it. John Lee Hancock run money soul people I think that all the anger and cynicism comes from suppressing things that we always wanted. John Lee Hancock things think always anger I really don't storyboard unless it's an action sequence of some kind, but I plan carefully. John Lee Hancock plan some kind action We did not go to that many movies in a theater in the little town I grew up in. John Lee Hancock town movies go up When you are older, you want to be around people you admire, even in their personal lives. John Lee Hancock you admire want people Many years ago, I was a producer on a movie called 'My Dog Skip.' Willie Morris, the great southern writer, had written the book. We had adapted it and taken 17 years of his life and compressed it into one year. John Lee Hancock great dog life book 'Snow White and the Huntsman' was - I came in before they started shooting and basically worked on Charlize Theron's character for the most part. I guess I probably worked four or five weeks on that one and stayed during production a little bit with them. John Lee Hancock shooting white snow character
