Cary Fukunaga Quotes & Sayings

Levity, you need levity to feel anything. You need to laugh before you cry. I think films that take themselves too seriously without any levity are missing an important ingredient to the potential emotional impact of their stories. — Cary Fukunaga

I don't storyboard, and I don't really shot list. I let the shots be determined by how the actors and I figure out the blocking in a scene, and then from there, we cover it. — Cary Fukunaga

When people start talking, things happen. — Cary Fukunaga

It's a treat and daunting to be directing someone like Judi Dench, who's made more films than I'll ever make in my lifetime. — Cary Fukunaga

When you have a script, and you're discussing what it can be, and who going to play what role, that's a kind of like a fantasy football game. You can imagine these different dream teams interpreting these characters that only exist in your head. — Cary Fukunaga

The only pressure is the pressure I put on myself, that's up to be I guess to mitigate that. I think there's always pressure that you make the right choice for the next film. You don't know what the outcome is gonna be, there's always potential to find length to your career as well. Now I'm so far from any other job skills that if I don't make movies. — Cary Fukunaga

I think the semantics of mini-series for a network is that it has an end. — Cary Fukunaga

I have a really good relationship with Focus Features; we had a wonderful time working together on 'Sin Nombre.' — Cary Fukunaga

I don't really see a huge divide between filmmaking and television. In the end, a lot of people are going to be watching this stuff on their laptops and their iPhones anyway. So, it doesn't really matter where it comes from, as long as the stories get told. — Cary Fukunaga

There's a lot of two-hander dialogue in 'True Detective,' and I needed to place those guys in locations where there were other levels of visual storytelling. It didn't necessarily have to move the plot forward, but it had to add tone or add to the overall feeling. — Cary Fukunaga

I didn't grow up watching detective shows. I've never even seen an episode of 'CSI.' — Cary Fukunaga

I like characters that make choices and try to drive their own fate. — Cary Fukunaga

Collaborations aren't easy, but you definitely get something highly different than had you done it on your own. That's part of the experience. — Cary Fukunaga

My dad is from Japanese descent, my mom is from Swedish descent and, through marriages and divorces, a pretty multicultural family - a lot of Spanish speakers in the family. — Cary Fukunaga

I have these plants in my house that are dying, so having a robot butler to water them when I'm away would be pretty handy. — Cary Fukunaga

I want to have a nice country home one day, yeah. — Cary Fukunaga

My ideas tend to be either really big in terms of like, the logistics, or really small. — Cary Fukunaga

It's nice to represent to other people in the world that Americans actually do know what's happening in the world, can speak other languages and are conscientious. The perception quite often is that we don't know what's beyond our county line. — Cary Fukunaga

I enjoy setting the scene and coming up with interesting frames. 'True Detective' was a very hands-on set. — Cary Fukunaga

You need the actors to feel as much ownership of the performance and the direction of the story as you do to get the most out of everyone's potential. Part of it is just making sure we all have the same vision. — Cary Fukunaga

Some directors don't get involved in the cinematography and are just about story, but I'm definitely more tactile than that in terms of my involvement in the minutiae. — Cary Fukunaga

'Jane Eyre' was one of those films that I was familiar with as a kid, and I always enjoyed the story. — Cary Fukunaga

So often at home in the West Village, I'm like, 'Why aren't I allowed a horse?' I would keep a horse in a stable in my apartment, and I would fit him with rubber shoes, and we'd just roll him out. If I needed to go to a meeting somewhere, I'd just get on my horse and go across town. — Cary Fukunaga

I want to be happy while I make movies and not just do things just to work. I want to do things I spend years on. — Cary Fukunaga

The theoretical casting part of movies is the funnest part. You really can imagine so many different versions of a story based on who's embodying it. — Cary Fukunaga

My dad worked for a generator company and then UC Berkeley, and my mom was as a dental hygienist and then eventually a history teacher. My uncles and aunts, all of them are elementary school teachers or scientists. — Cary Fukunaga

Obviously, a lot of TV shows are based on chronological episode viewing, and the stories are contingent upon watching it in order. Syndicated shows, you don't have to watch in order. You're just watching characters that don't change that much. — Cary Fukunaga

Everyone wants to be liked, so of course you want critical acclaim. After that, box office acclaim isn't bad. More than anything I think you have to try and make something you're proud of. — Cary Fukunaga

I was a big history buff as a teenager. — Cary Fukunaga

The problem with being a writer/director: unless you're really disciplined, you start adding projects, and you have to make time to make them. Because you have to write them ... no one else is writing them for me. — Cary Fukunaga

An eight-hour movie is definitely not a two-hour movie. An eight-hour movie is really like five independent films, if you think about it, because each is usually an hour and a half. In some ways, it is like making a movie. It's just a lot more information. — Cary Fukunaga

'City of God' and 'Slumdog Millionaire' are both films that I really like, but they are stylistically the opposite of what I wanted to do. — Cary Fukunaga

I think that one of the most exciting things about making films is the sort of reaching out to the world. It's as an ambassador. You realize the more you travel that you are a cultural ambassador for your own country. You never become more patriotic than you do living abroad. — Cary Fukunaga

You work with the communities to make films. And you just don't go in and take over their territory. — Cary Fukunaga

I'm not a very sentimental person, so you're not going to find schmaltzy scenes in my movies. — Cary Fukunaga

They're always surprised with what I want to do and don't want to do. I think they're surprised I don't want to do robo-tech. I don't know, it's like they want me to have a long career. And be prolific and make big movies. — Cary Fukunaga

I used to do Civil War re-enacting between the ages of 15 and 19. I was part of a unit that was considered very authentic. We would source the right wools, the right buttons for the costumes. We had the right look. — Cary Fukunaga

I love the idea of 3D, but it's completely superfluous to most stories. — Cary Fukunaga

When I was a kid, I knew the black and white version of 'Jane Eyre,' and I guess I became interested in the idea of romantic love - of unrequited love and the tragedies of that; of what are the important things in life; what should one value over other materials. — Cary Fukunaga

I'm the kind of person where you're never done, you just keep perfecting and perfecting and perfecting, or trying to fix things that drive you crazy. Often times when you watch a film, "if I could just get through this minute, I'll be fine." So I think I'm just hard on myself. — Cary Fukunaga

I'll definitely say that, before film school, I didn't have much of a film-history background. I didn't know much about classic cinema. — Cary Fukunaga

On 'Sin Nombre,' Adriano Goldman and I improvised a lot of things on-site. We were working with untrained actors, and you can't really block a scene in a traditional way. — Cary Fukunaga

It's hard because there's a part of me that wants 'True Detective' to win every award we're nominated for. But I'm a huge fan of 'Breaking Bad' and 'Game of Thrones.' — Cary Fukunaga

I live in Brooklyn, New York, and hail from the 'East Bay,' Oakland, CA. — Cary Fukunaga

My mom loved the old black-and-white films. — Cary Fukunaga

Living in New York, I get excited by the idea of working in a different medium. And it's pretty frightening because whatever skills it takes to make a good piece of theater seem mysterious to me. — Cary Fukunaga

Your movie should lull people into a place of openness and vulnerability. If it is just a diatribe, it's never going to work. — Cary Fukunaga

You have to tease enough misinformation and lack of information to hopefully make people want more. — Cary Fukunaga

My mind is in so many different places while we're shooting. Part of it is watching the performance, part of it is watching the camera, and part of it is thinking about the stuff that we have to get that day. It's always a pleasure watching, but you also take it for granted, when you're on the actual grind, making the show. — Cary Fukunaga

I've written immense love letters that are supposed to be opened over days at a time. — Cary Fukunaga

I binge write, basically. I do a lot of prep, research, setup. I'll have a pretty detailed outline. Sort of like a beat outline. And then I'll add little notes and dialogue ideas, and I'll just create a 20-page document. — Cary Fukunaga

With 'Sin Nombre,' there are parts that I wish were longer. And with 'Jane Eyre' especially, there were parts that I had to compress that I thought it would have been really nice to spend more time with - to spend with the characters. — Cary Fukunaga

I'm definitely sensitive to the idea of exploitation. You don't want to glamorize certain things. — Cary Fukunaga

There's nothing better than finishing something and looking at it. Whether it be a script or a movie, it's this complete little thing that now exists and is hopefully immortal. — Cary Fukunaga

My manager sent me the first two scripts for 'True Detective,' and I just thought they were so interesting and that the world they were depicting was so titillating to me. — Cary Fukunaga

Collaboration sometimes causes conflict, and sometimes it's easy, but the bringing together of great minds only adds. — Cary Fukunaga

When I see an image in my head that compels me, where there's this mystery about what's going to happen next or could happen next, I'll be intrigued. There are so many scripts that you read, and you know exactly what's going to happen, and there aren't too many where you can't tell within the first 20 pages where it's going. — Cary Fukunaga

I was imagining films in my head and trying to gather friends together to make movies since I was a kid. I tried to do comedy skits and a horror film. — Cary Fukunaga

I'm clearly not meant to be in front of the camera. I'm really not meant for anything but behind the camera. — Cary Fukunaga

I just have a hard time displaying things. — Cary Fukunaga

Literally, I don't have a television. So I don't really know what's happening pop-culturally. I read the 'New York Times.' And there's one worldwide cabin blog that I look at. — Cary Fukunaga

Tom Hooper had done 'John Adams,' and David Lynch did 'Twin Peaks.' I figured I could do eight hours of television, and I wanted to. — Cary Fukunaga

I used to always make art for girls. That was the thing I did for girls to like me. I did portraits, drawings, letters that formed outlines of significant things in our relationship. Art. I just used art in general. It usually worked. — Cary Fukunaga

Increasingly, there's much better material on television, but there's not always the time and money to make it, so you've got to make sure you make it in the right place. It also depends on time commitment; a lot of directors will make a pilot, but a series is just a whole other level of involvement. — Cary Fukunaga

I have tremendous faith that there will be greater films to come. — Cary Fukunaga

Have you seen McConaughey in 'Unsolved Mysteries?' Even back then, it's a great performance! And he's mowing the lawn. — Cary Fukunaga

My grandma was really sick when I was working on 'Sin Nombre' and eventually died that summer when we were finishing the film. But I was able to bring an unfinished version of the film for her to watch. — Cary Fukunaga

I'm pretty hard to impress, and I'm pretty exacting, in terms of what I want from my props department and art department. We spend many, many hours going over visual research and finding the right artists to create the material. — Cary Fukunaga

I have aspirations of making a big, historical epic. I don't know if I'll ever get the money to do it ... — Cary Fukunaga

When I was 20, I was living in the Alps, snowboarding and studying political science. I blew out my knee, and I began to realize my days in the sport were numbered; the reality was I would never be a pro. — Cary Fukunaga

I don't believe happiness comes out of material gain, for sure. — Cary Fukunaga

Writing, for me, is an inherent part of understanding the material on a deeper level. — Cary Fukunaga

'Sin Nombre' was almost like the adolescent version of 'Jane Eyre.' 'Jane Eyre' sort of picks up where 'Sin Nombre' ends. It's about this girl who starts off on her own at her lowest point of despair, and she figures out how she got there. — Cary Fukunaga

My mom was married to a Mexican guy - a surfer - and so we'd kind of camp out on the beach the swell season. — Cary Fukunaga

In snowboarding, you're constantly aware that people are so technically brilliant at what they do, and you feel like, "Ugh, I'll never be able to do that." — Cary Fukunaga

I don't think I'd ever write anything that I don't also direct just because it's so hard and painful to write as it is. — Cary Fukunaga

Every single substitute teacher growing up could not pronounce my name, so whenever someone pauses, I'm like, 'Oh, that's me.' — Cary Fukunaga

If you're directing, it doesn't really matter any more if it's going straight to TV - what matters is whether you have the resources to make a story that moves you. — Cary Fukunaga

I think I have this field around me that makes electronics work bad. It's not like an entropy thing; it happens very quickly. — Cary Fukunaga

I wanted to make my sophomore film as different as possible. I didn't want to be pigeonholed. I didn't want to be identifiable. — Cary Fukunaga

I'm never more miserable than when I write, and never more happy than having finished and having it sitting in front of me. — Cary Fukunaga

After 'Sin Nombre,' I just needed to take a break to go to completely different worlds. — Cary Fukunaga

There are a lot of movies I would want to be a fly on the wall for. I would have loved to see the making of Jaws [1975], with all the fears and anxieties it was going to be a complete failure, and then to have it turn into the first blockbuster. — Cary Fukunaga

I do want to direct a movie from horseback one day. — Cary Fukunaga

I love period pieces. But it's hard to get money to make costumed dramas, so we'll see. — Cary Fukunaga

When you know you have a certain amount of work to finish, you just don't allow yourself to get sick again. — Cary Fukunaga

As storytellers, you're always somehow creating history. — Cary Fukunaga

Ed Norton is probably one of the smartest people I've ever met. — Cary Fukunaga

Film still looks way better than digital. — Cary Fukunaga

My friends just make fun of me in some shape or form. — Cary Fukunaga

I don't really put trophies out. I don't keep trophies around my apartment. — Cary Fukunaga

It's easy to make something avant garde. To do something in the traditional way is much more brave in the sense that you're - your technique is so much more exposed because there's not all this flashy stuff to distract the viewer. — Cary Fukunaga

I have no idea what it would be like to be just one thing and speak one language. I feel enormously privileged to travel and be able to mingle and speak to people that, had I only known English, I wouldn't have been able to meet. — Cary Fukunaga

Even on my films, I always collaborate with the actors. That's a given. I think you need that. You need the actors to feel as much ownership of the performance and the direction of the story as you do, to get the most out of everyone's potential. — Cary Fukunaga

It's rare that you can promote a love story and feel fear in a film. — Cary Fukunaga

There's nothing I find more lazy than unmotivated camerawork just to make things look interesting. — Cary Fukunaga

As a director, your job is to make sure no one for any reason is taken out of the film. Sometimes it's impossible and sometimes things don't come out the way you want them to, but I think you have to work really hard at making the world engrossing and details are a major part of that. — Cary Fukunaga

It's so easy for shows to be gritty and handheld and shaky and really tight in people's faces. — Cary Fukunaga

I've been wanting to make a movie about the war in Sierra Leone, specifically, for more than 15 years. — Cary Fukunaga

The anticipation-speculation that comes with a weekly schedule is a double-edged sword. Because people have more time to talk about things, some crazy ideas get a lot of attention. — Cary Fukunaga