The ability to take pleasure in one's life is a skill and is a kind of intelligence. Todd Solondz More Quotes by Todd Solondz More Quotes From Todd Solondz I admit there’s an element of brutality in all my work - it’s part of the truth about human existence I always want to explore - but the last thing I’m trying to do is put on some kind of freak show, inviting people to get off on other people’s pain and humiliation. Todd Solondz pain trying people I don't have a formula. Every time an actor wants me to hold their hand, I hold their hand. If they say, "Stay," I say "Okay, respect." You know? "I'm right over here." A kid, if I need to give a line-reading, I'll start acting out the part for the kid and just mimic the kid. You know? Whatever it takes. Todd Solondz acting giving kids I think there are many advantages to not knowing any of my prior work. The narrative threads, I think, are totally accessible to anyone who may never have heard of me. There's a beginning, a middle, and an end - I don't think there's going to be any confusion there. Todd Solondz confusion thinking I think, in fact, there's a plus and a minus to knowing my prior work, Happiness and so forth. The plus is of course you can see how I play with the characters, the storylines, and the way things play off each other. And the minus is that it makes you a little bit more self-conscious, that you're not able to enter the movie as it exists and lives and breathes, because you're so busy making references, connections that you're not able to release yourself from and take the film on your own terms. Todd Solondz busy character thinking For me, New Jersey is kind of a mythical place. It's emblematic of a certain aspect of American life. Florida is the same way. It's where people go to recreate, to reinvent themselves. It's what California used to be. I think Florida is still a place to erase the past. Todd Solondz people past thinking Compromise is part and parcel of making a movie. It's a question of the kinds of compromises that you have to make. Todd Solondz parcel compromise kind I don't make movies with the idea that people are going to walk out of them feeling comfortable or better about themselves or more secure in their own biases or opinions. Todd Solondz feelings people ideas I've always said that I myself am not the best audience for my own work, because I'm just not that receptive to comedy. Todd Solondz audience comedy said I always have to presume that each movie is my last movie because I never know if I'll get money again. Todd Solondz get-money lasts knows I always make mistakes and I always fix things up, as best I can, in the cutting room. Todd Solondz cutting mistake rooms There are a lot of ideas I have that I think would be very marketable and commercial, but they're not as compelling to me as the ones that are unmarketable, uncommercial, and unprofitable. Todd Solondz would-be ideas thinking I think success is a lot more healthy than failure. Todd Solondz healthy thinking Every time you try to make another movie, you never know what will come of it. I can't say it ever gets easier, but it is in it's own way gratifying. I think that because no one movie that you make ever quite satisfies you, you're always feeling, "Next time I can get it right." Todd Solondz feelings trying thinking That is definitely a misunderstanding between me and a part of my audience. To be honest, I am often unsettled by the responses some people have had to my movies, and that includes many people who like them. Todd Solondz response honest people There can be a blurry line between laughing at the expense of a character and laughing at the recognition of something painful and true. But blurry as it may be, it is nevertheless unmistakable, and sometimes the laughter I hear makes me wince. Todd Solondz laughter character laughing Some people see me as dissecting my characters in some kind of heartless, coldblooded, analytical way, when in truth making these movies is a passionate, intensely emotional experience for me. I'm detached from the characters only to the degree that I have to be in order to write honestly about them. Todd Solondz emotional writing character What makes me angry is the idea that people would be going to a movie because of what I said about it. It makes me feel, I don't know, arrogant, self-important, self-aggrandizing, whatever. Like I'm being used. Todd Solondz self people ideas Artwork can be a portal, a kind of rethinking and reseeing of the world as we live it. Todd Solondz portal kind world When I go to the movies, I do like to see things that surprise me, a little bit, in ways that seem truthful to the world that we live in. Todd Solondz littles way world I love working with actors. I do. Todd Solondz actors
