If you do something that's really original, you discover why everybody else does it the other way, usually. There's a reason cliches exist, 'cause they work. Doug Liman More Quotes by Doug Liman More Quotes From Doug Liman It's very hard for a studio to take a chance on a piece of original material. They used to have the fall-back of DVD sales. They had ways in which they could safely make an investment in a piece of original material, and those opportunities aren't necessarily there anymore. Doug Liman dvds opportunity fall I'm a character-driven director, and I tend to fall in love with the characters in my movies and TV shows. Doug Liman tv-shows falling-in-love character It's hard to get a movie made about characters these days. We're in a climate where, unless it's based on a toy or it's a superhero where somewhere it ends in man - like Spider-Man, Superman or Iron Man - it's hard to get it made. Doug Liman iron character men TV is a safe place to develop real characters. Doug Liman real safe character Once I'm in the editing room, forget about what I intended to shoot. I take a cold, hard look at what I really did shoot, and then I edit that because, if you try to edit what you intended and you missed somewhere, that will show up. Doug Liman editing trying looks It's almost a work-shopping process to create the characters with the actors. Doug Liman shopping actors character Nothing I've done is like anything else I've done before. Doug Liman done Somehow super power and hero are so synonymous that they get combined into one word, 'superhero,' whereas I'm kind of more interested in separating those two ideas out. You have characters with super powers who may or may not be heroic, because human beings aren't all heroic. I tend to be drawn to antiheros. Doug Liman you power hero ideas My dad couldn't connect to my wanting to be a filmmaker. He was very connected in entertainment, and through him I met Steven Spielberg and got rides on his private plane to California. I'd see Spielberg's people reading scripts. I was like, 'That's what I want to be when I grow up.' Doug Liman grow dad reading people VR is so immersive, and when it works, it draws you into the story in a way that is truly unique and powerful. Doug Liman story you unique way I'm really drawn to adventure, and characters being plucked from normal life and sent on extraordinary adventures. Doug Liman being extraordinary adventure life I'm interested in the kind of anti-establishment ethos that goes with making an independent movie. I like to bring that to studio films - usually to the consternation of the studios. Doug Liman bring like independent kind There would be no Marvel without 'Swingers'; there would be no Jon Favreau directing 'Iron Man,' no Robert Downey Jr. playing Iron Man; no 'Avengers.' Doug Liman playing without man iron I don't really analyze my process. I do know that if it's not right, I won't move on. I'm tenacious to a fault about that. Doug Liman fault right know process A part of me is a liberal New Yorker involved in politics and certain attitudes about movies. I kind of lost my indie credibility over 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith.' I know I haven't lost it. I just have to go make an independent movie. I just have to do it. Just for me. Doug Liman movies new me politics I never want to repeat myself. I can't imagine anything else as upsetting as realizing I'm redoing something I did before. For some reason, when it comes to film, I'm very good at not repeating myself. Even though in the rest of my life, I'm constantly repeating my mistakes. Doug Liman my-life good myself life The more real I got on 'The Bourne Identity,' the more interesting it got. So 'Fair Game' was the chance to go a few more steps in that direction. In fact, I discovered this whole other world that I had ignored in the 'Bourne' franchise, which is the domestic life of a spy, and how you make the two halves of your life coexist. Doug Liman game you life world I populated 'The Bourne Identity' with real characters from American history, specifically characters from the Iran-Contra affair, which my father ran the investigation of. But at the heart of it was a fictional character. Doug Liman heart character father history