Jean-Jacques Annaud Quotes & Sayings

There is a broad cultural current that conveys the idea that a film is like a football team, it represents a nation, it is illustrated literature, filmed radio. These are outdated concepts, totally out of touch with today's realities. — Jean-Jacques Annaud

I make movies just as painters paint: I work where I can. — Jean-Jacques Annaud

To do the writing, I have to have time to do research. — Jean-Jacques Annaud

My way of remaining French was the financing scheme I used for Quest for Fire, with Fox funds, since it started as a 100% American production. The film was not in French and yet was French in style, reflecting my personality. — Jean-Jacques Annaud

If you make a movie about Elizabeth I, how much of the dialogue is her real words? Audiences know when they go see a movie that it is fiction. — Jean-Jacques Annaud

Today's cinema is a global art form, it is impossible to make movies for a market the size of France, representing no more than 4% of the world's total. — Jean-Jacques Annaud

The French have got to understand that a film is so expensive that it can no longer afford to be regional or even national in scope. — Jean-Jacques Annaud

The world distribution of French movies is a laughing matter. That is a fact. — Jean-Jacques Annaud

I had to choose between American and British actors, and it didn't take me more than a second to decide: Russians are Europeans and should be played by other Europeans. — Jean-Jacques Annaud

When Americans shoot movies they aim at the entire planet. When the French make movies, they aim at Paris. — Jean-Jacques Annaud

When Picasso painted in Paris, was he a Spanish or a French painter? It does not matter, he was Picasso, whatever the influences surrounding him. He simply chose Paris because it was the ideal place for him to sell his creation. — Jean-Jacques Annaud

America is the only country capable of producing national movies: its culture has become a global culture. — Jean-Jacques Annaud

I think it is a mistake to identify a movie according to its language, as if movies were literature. — Jean-Jacques Annaud

When you create a movie, you create something in your image. — Jean-Jacques Annaud

War scenes are less difficult than love scenes. — Jean-Jacques Annaud

The art of motion pictures is pictorial and language comes a distant second. — Jean-Jacques Annaud

When a French book becomes an international hit it is because of the author and not because of the language. The same goes for movies. — Jean-Jacques Annaud

British actors behave like Europeans; they are also extremely well trained. — Jean-Jacques Annaud

The financing of my films has always been international. — Jean-Jacques Annaud