Top 55 Sean Baker Quotes

I come from the school of thought that feels that if you can shoot film, you should shoot film.

I don’t see myself as a short-film director, and I’m not a commercial director.

Filmmaking has been my love since my mother brought me to see James Whale’s ‘Frankenstein’ at the local library at the age of six.

I cannot stand Hollywood child performances. It just reeks of artifice, and it’s weird that, for some reason, Hollywood feels they have to make their child characters smarter than adults, and suddenly kids have the vocabulary of a college grad.

New York City is the most culturally diverse city in the world, and yet there have been few films about the Chinese, Latino, and Middle Eastern experience in New York.

I have friends who are trans advocates, and they were upset that Jared Leto played a trans person.

I have been very inspired and influenced by ‘The Little Rascals’ my entire career.

There’s an alchemy that happens in my eyes when you mix it up, when you have a seasoned actor on set and your first-timer.

I would like to make sure I’m not homeless.

Cinema is always evolving.

‘Tangerine’ taught me that if you win an audience over with comedy, then hopefully have a soulful message at the same time.

I think I’m my own worst enemy.

‘Tangerine’ was less than half the budget of ‘Starlet,’ and ‘Starlet’ was already a microbudget film. A director always wants more time, and we had a limited amount of resources.

I know that ‘Tangerine’ is getting a lot of attention for pushing the iFilm, but I am really mourning the death of celluloid.

I spend a lot of time on my phone, so I have two Mophie backups myself.

I have a feeling that I might even disappoint some people by staying in this two to three million range and continuing to make character-driven stories.

So many films are being shot on the DSLR, that they’re all starting to look the same. There’s a shallow depth of field. It’s a nice look, but I can always identify a film shot with a DSLR.

I’m always looking for authenticity in my films. They’re based in realism.

Most of the characters in ‘The Little Rascals’ were living in poverty, but they decided to focus on the joy of being a kid: the humor, the heart, the resilience.

If more stories are told about marginalized communities, subcultures, and minorities, the less marginalized they will be.

Dealing with kids, you’re always going to have to deal with something. I mean, they’re kids.

I don’t have a family. I’m not planning one. I don’t have to support anyone but me and my dog.

Because I’m a dramatist, I’m allowed to take liberties, but I want my films to be based in truth, and it’s very important to me that the community we’re focusing on is happy with the film. From an ethical point of view, that’s everything.

A movie will live or die with your casting.

When it comes down to it, I’m still in love with film – I’m a cinephile.

From a filmmaker’s point of view, there is something undeniably cinematic about a location like Santa Monica Boulevard, which is so chaotic and busy and over-stimulating.

Most filmmakers, if not all, come from a place of privilege, if only because of the expense.

I work with different actors with varied degrees of experience.

I love celluloid. I love the look of it.

There are so many directors who don’t like any kind of interaction on set except for producers. I am the opposite.

I’m not really the type to jump into a $20 million film just to do it.

The iPhone always has a different look from model to model – ‘Tangerine’ is quite smooth, but that was the 5s. I was using the iPhone 6s Plus for ‘The Florida Project,’ and it has what’s called a rolling shutter, and it gave it this hyperactivity and a very different, jarring feel, and we liked that.

It feels dangerous when people say, ‘Oh, Sean Baker focuses on marginalised people.’ And offensive. As if I’m standing there with my planner thinking, ‘OK, where’s the next marginalised group I can make a movie about?’

Some have said I focus on marginalized communities, but it’s not like that was my mission statement. I’ve just told stories that interest me, and that I’m not seeing enough of, on groups of people and subcultures that are often not seen.

A lot of independent films try to pull off a 14-day shooting schedule, which I think is ridiculous. No matter how big or small you are, it really kills whatever sort of time you get to allow the actors to find their characters, and to spend time to think about what they’re doing.

I’ve told my agent to push the idea of me as a director for hire off the table. Otherwise, we’re wasting people’s time.

I’m very influenced by Mike Leigh and the way that he always has these climactic confrontations, like in ‘Secrets and Lies’ and ‘High Hopes,’ in which the ensemble cast meets in one location.

When people talk about first-timers, I always think of Spike Lee. In every film he’s made, he has A-listers, but he’s always giving roles to first-time actors and breaking careers. He’s brought such wonderful actors into the spotlight, and I love that.

I definitely learned a lot about how to be more communicative with my crews.

When I see a billboard that literally just has five names, and they’re all A-listers, I’m just like, What is that bringing to the world that’s new?

As long as I can pay rent, that’s all I care about.

Like with ‘Starlet,’ we intentionally did not look at ‘Boogie Nights’ before making ‘Starlet,’ and I should have. Because there are one or two scenes that come too close and it looks almost like – because it’s about the same industry, and you’re going to be covering certain subjects.

A lot of the LGBTQ community accepted ‘Tangerine,’ which was something we worked really hard to achieve.

I’m actually very critical of digital cinema.

The films that are coming out of SXSW are incredible, and they should get the same bids that films at Sundance are getting.

Film is the only art form where we feel we have to title our stuff literally. Musicians don’t have to title their songs literally. It can be more about what’s conjured up when you think of a word.

Everyone’s asking if I’ve been offered a superhero movie, and no, I definitely have not.

I want my films to be different, to use different techniques, not just make a calling card film.

I’m not looking to get rich.

In so many reviews that I’m reading of ‘The Florida Project,’ everyone is assuming it’s my second film.

I’ve fallen in love with Los Angeles, and I love to explore it myself.

I grew up torturing friends and family by making super-8 and VHS epics.

I make dramedies, but ‘Tangerine’ really has a lot of comedy, and I saw that it had a great effect – it reached a larger audience.

My one hope for Netflix and Amazon is to be a little more art house- and indie-friendly, pushing those just as hard as they push their originals.

I went to NYU thinking I was going to make a ‘Die Hard’ sequel, or maybe action and genre films for the studios, but I ended up falling in love with personal cinema.