Louis Leterrier Quotes & Sayings

I did my 'Hulk,' but it was not easy. If I do another Hulk film it will always be compared to the Ang Lee thing, and my first one ... if I come back, I'd love to do another superhero, something different that I can really put my touch on. — Louis Leterrier

Some directors are like it's their ... nothing can change, nothing can move. I like collaborating, even when an extra has an idea, I like to bring to really have collaboration. — Louis Leterrier

Frankly, with HBO and Showtime and cable shows, the DVD box sets and all, you can have a product that doesn't make you feel like as soon as it's projected, it's thrown away. It's really a piece of art. — Louis Leterrier

'Iron Man' was this fun, poppy thing bound to make a zillion dollars. And we were the other side of a superhero movie. More complex with The Hulk being this complex character - that's what it was. — Louis Leterrier

I feel like the great filmmakers who have a true voice, yeah they take the notes, they understand the notes, but it's really about the notes underneath the notes. When you do a test screening and somebody says, 'Well, I didn't like the love story,' but it was probably just too long. — Louis Leterrier

Every actor is different so you cannot become best friends on Day One. You just have to learn to know each other. — Louis Leterrier

'Captain America' I love, and that would be great, but c'mon, a Frenchman doing 'Captain America?' They would burn my passport. — Louis Leterrier

The movies like "Star Wars," for example or "Lord Of The Rings," they work because it's a a mix of everything. — Louis Leterrier

If I was to direct a movie about a super-confident guy, first of all I would hate that character. I can do a super-confident guy who crashes and burns and has to rebuild himself as somebody humble. But a super-confident guy that just gets more confident and gets the girl and the money and more success? That's not interesting. — Louis Leterrier

Even though I studied in New York and I know the American system, I come from France where I learned that with movies in France where the director is king. There's no such thing as a studio edit. It's the director's cut, period. — Louis Leterrier

I'm one of the lucky directors that pretty much every movie I've done has started a franchise. But I never think this way. I think that's the way you break it, if you go, 'then at the end, at the end we'll see you later.' I was forced to do it in 'Clash of the Titans.' — Louis Leterrier

The new 'Avatar' BluRay is a lesson in filmmaking. It really is inspiring. — Louis Leterrier

I like the idea of a TV show. You take time to get to know your characters. You can introduce a lot of characters. You don't need your three-action set pieces that you usually need for movies. — Louis Leterrier

The 2-D movie works as well as the 3-D movie. I want to make sure that people like the 2-D version. It's not a gimmick. It actually improves the viewing experience, but the movie stands on its own. — Louis Leterrier

My favorite moment is when someone says, 'I like 'Unleashed.' 'Now You See Me' is so much fun.' That's what I want to do: smart, fun and big movies. I cannot lie, I love working with those big paint brushes. I have a blast doing these movies. — Louis Leterrier

It's true, I'm the youngest, highest-grossing French director. I have a few records, but no one knows or simply doesn't care. That's good, because I like that. Ultimately, I want to keep working, making a lot of movies, and get better at it. It's about finding great scripts and bringing them to life. — Louis Leterrier

When I was in film school, I was learning more theory than practice. — Louis Leterrier

You always have three movies that you have to reduce into one. You have the screenplay. And then, you do a workshop and you add more scenes. And then, on the day you shoot, there's more action and interaction. It's like a souffle. It has a tendency to just grow and explode, and it's just too long. — Louis Leterrier

I'll say it, I love working with actors, I'm a fan of actors. They bring so much, and they can also break a movie, but when it works I give it all to the actors. I'll say it, I think that 'The Transporter' is great not because of my direction, it really is great because Jason Statham was great in it. — Louis Leterrier

Great actors are so easy to direct. It's like they're big 747s that you just have to move left and right, and I don't really need to direct. I need to put them in the right costume, with the right haircut, in the right location, and with the right actor to act with. And then my job is almost done, with a great script, obviously. — Louis Leterrier

I'll tell you what, I had complete control on 'Unleashed.' I directed, produced, chose the musician, picked the costumes, and everything. I never had anyone saying, 'I don't like this and I don't like that.' The studio, Universal, were easy. It was this weird movie no one cared about. — Louis Leterrier

I just wanted to make a properly good movie, and not beg for the love of the fans. — Louis Leterrier

French cinema has always been very interesting, and it's still very powerful. I think it goes to show that it's great to still have a cinema that doesn't try to emulate, for example, American cinema. — Louis Leterrier

It's funny, I started by making fake American movies, 'The Transporter' and stuff like that. I was shooting in France, but everything was in English. But then afterwards, I was looking at real French movies like the Jacques Audiard movies. — Louis Leterrier

I've started movies without screenplays both on 'Clash' and on 'Hulk,' and that is tremendously stressful because you have a tendency to overcompensate with effects. You haven't tested it in your head. You didn't run it over and over again and covered all of the plot holes and figure it out. It's a marathon that you sprint. — Louis Leterrier

I'm stuck somewhere a small island in the middle of the Atlantic where I'm alone. Because in France, they're like, 'No, you're not like us, you're not a French guy.' And in America, they're like, 'You're not like us.' I'm really alone in my little thing. — Louis Leterrier

All the superhero stuff is Greek myths and Greek gods, wearing tights and capes. That's what they are. That's what I gravitate towards. — Louis Leterrier

Directing is like cooking, it's like cuisine. You cannot make a great dish with bad ingredients. I have great actors, and I'm putting them together. That's all I'm doing. — Louis Leterrier

I talked to Marvel about 'Thor' at one point, but I didn't want to do Thor. It wasn't something I read growing up, really; it wasn't one of the books I loved. — Louis Leterrier

Movies are not finished. They are abandoned. A movie is never finished. — Louis Leterrier

I love comedies, and I like sometimes comedies have a tendency to get a bit lazy. 'The Other Guys' was not lazy. — Louis Leterrier

My fear in converting it to 3-D is that people will say, 'Oh, it's the 3-D 'Clash of the Titans.' No, it's 'Clash of the Titans,' the movie, and then, on top of that, you have the 3-D conversion. The 2-D movie works as well as the 3-D movie. I want to make sure that people like the 2-D version. — Louis Leterrier

What's great about 'The Avengers' is that it's the next step. It's not just superhero fights super-villain and superhero wins. It's about superheroes that come together and interact. It's a clash of the egos. You could do 'Avengers 1' without a villain, just with all these guys coming together. They could sit down and just have a discussion. — Louis Leterrier

I think our movie, 'Now You See Me,' is an emotional movie rooted in smart and wits and fully amazing actors working perfectly together. It's like a supergroup of musicians. — Louis Leterrier

I'm a 'Clash of the Titans'/'Star Wars' baby. I'm not a new 'Star Wars' baby. I'm not an 'Avatar' baby. That full CG doesn't work for me. I need interactivity. I need to feel the goo. I need to feel people coming out of animatronics and just interacting with props. — Louis Leterrier

When you do a first movie, you're contractually supposed to do the second one and then you don't do it, you become an executive producer. That's why there are a ton of directors who have executive producer credits on other movies. — Louis Leterrier