There have been innumerable films about film-making, but Otto e Mezzo was a film about the processes of thinking about making a film -- certainly the most enjoyable part of any cinema creation. Peter Greenaway More Quotes by Peter Greenaway More Quotes From Peter Greenaway Bill Viola is worth ten Scorseses. Peter Greenaway viola ten bills Too many proofs spoil the truth. Peter Greenaway spoil proof Cinema is dead, long live cinema. Peter Greenaway cinema long I think that films or indeed any art work should be made in a way that they are infinitely viewable; so that you could go back to it time and time again, not necessarily immediately but over a space of time, and see new things in it, or new ways of looking at it. Peter Greenaway space art thinking I do indeed think that cinema is mortal. There is a lot of evidence already that it is dying on its feet. Peter Greenaway dying feet thinking My heroes among filmmakers would be people like Buñuel and Pasolini, who were of very high cinematic intelligence, but tread on a lot of toes. Peter Greenaway hero would-be people As for critics, one mediocre writer is more valuable than ten good critics. They are like haughty, barren spinsters lodged in a maternity ward. Peter Greenaway spinsters barren maternity It seems so tragic to me that so many filmmakers are making movies up against this extra-ordinary revolution with one eye closed and two hands tied behind their backs. Peter Greenaway eye two hands I have transmitted genetic material, all I have to do between my daughters' birth and my death is to decorate my life. Peter Greenaway my-daughter birth daughter If you want to tell stories, be a writer, not a filmmaker. Peter Greenaway filmmaker stories want Life is full of a thousand red herrings, and it takes the history of a civilisation to work out which are the red herrings and which aren't. Peter Greenaway red work-out life-is Tulse Luper, who without too many confessions, in a sense, is a fictive version of me. I have to say he has far more exciting adventures, and certainly a lot of them sexual, than ever I've experienced. But in a sense, what you do with an alter ego, you give them all sorts of permissions and licences which you know you'll never be able to embrace in your real life. Peter Greenaway real adventure giving The game Flights of Fancy or Reverse Strip Jump is played from as high a jumping-point as a competitor will dare. After each successful jump, the competitor is allowing to put on an article of clothing. Thirteen jumps is normally more than enough to see a competitor fully dressed for the day. Peter Greenaway jumping successful games I am Welsh by birth, English by education, and European by nature. Peter Greenaway welsh birth I also think that everyone has an elitist approach to his own art, a complex knowledge of it, whether he is a clockmaker or an engineer. And I think it's perfectly legitimate to make use of this knowledge because it enriches the overall texture of life. Peter Greenaway use art thinking You can play lacrosse all over the world provided you know where the goalposts are. Peter Greenaway lacrosse play world I like to think of The Falls as my own personal encyclopedia Greenaway-ensis. Peter Greenaway encyclopedia fall thinking The start of a film is like a gateway, a formal entrance-point. The first three minutes of a film make great demands on an audience's patience and credulity. A great deal has to be learnt very rapidly about place and attitude, character and intent and ambition. Peter Greenaway ambition attitude character Continuity is boring. Peter Greenaway continuity boring I acknowledge Mike Leigh and Ken Loach. They are prostlytizers of English socialism preaching to the converted and telling us what we already know. Cinema is best served away from documentary neo-realism. I come from a tradition of post-post-Italian neo-realism in England, where we've produced the best television in the world. But to paraphrase Truffaut, the English have no visual imagination. Peter Greenaway cinema italian imagination
