Ray Harryhausen Quotes & Sayings

I was never restricted. I was never told what to do. — Ray Harryhausen

I prefer to work alone and do everything alone, even today. — Ray Harryhausen

If you make things too real, sometimes you bring it down to the mundane. — Ray Harryhausen

Many times I felt like I'd do better than what the director did, but some of them got a little discouraged because they didn't have full charge of making the film, and sometimes there'd be battles of egos. — Ray Harryhausen

So our films had a lot more to them than entertainment value, and I'm glad that a lot of people recognize that now. People realize now the value of them as educational. — Ray Harryhausen

Animation had been used only for things like King Kong and the destruction of cities, which was very popular in the 1950s. I got tired of destroying cities. I destroyed New York, I destroyed San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, Rome, and Washington. I was looking for a new outlet, and I came across the Sinbad legends. — Ray Harryhausen

I had to learn to do everything because I couldn't find another kindred soul. Now you see eighty people listed doing the same things I was doing by myself. — Ray Harryhausen

I was very limited in what I could do with flying saucers, because they're just a metal disc. I had to try and put character in as if they were intelligently guided. — Ray Harryhausen

That's why I never became a director. I never had patience with people. — Ray Harryhausen

You could believe that Sinbad could fight a skeleton because that's from a period in the past, a magical period. But if you had James Bond fighting a skeleton, it'd be almost comical. — Ray Harryhausen

When you put a big budget into a film, it doesn't necessarily mean it will be a better picture, but it does help in creating new images on the screen. — Ray Harryhausen

I know pretty well in the broad sense what I'm going to do, because I have to know that when we shoot the live-action, so that it'll synchronize. Then I know pretty well when I get to the animation stage, what that scene requires. — Ray Harryhausen

I brought in the stories many times. I don't just do animation. — Ray Harryhausen

Animation requires a great deal of concentration, and I preferred to work alone because then I'm not deterred by somebody asking me if I want coffee, or the phone ringing or something. — Ray Harryhausen

I took courses at USC in film editing and art direction and photography when I was still in high school. — Ray Harryhausen

Medusa was fascinating to work with because I gave her a snake's body so that she could pull herself with her hands which gave her a very creepy aura. I didn't want to animate cosmic gowns. Most Medusas you see in the classics have flowing robes which would be mad to even try to animate. — Ray Harryhausen