Some of the subject matters that I like to make stories about are definitely not inherently commercial. So I have to look for a very special kind of financing and go down a very gentle path in order to make my films, as do basically all social-realist filmmakers. It’s a long process. Debra Granik Read Quote
In documentary, you are sometimes burdened, or you feel very responsible for dealing with – I want to say – more complicated themes. Fiction allows for greater distillation. Debra Granik Read Quote
My producing partner and I were shown a novel we really liked. It was called ‘My Abandonment’ by Peter Rock, and we enjoyed reading it. Debra Granik Read Quote
Every filmmaker has this short book of films that don’t get made – for a whole host of reasons. Debra Granik Read Quote
There’s a period where you feel very hinky and low about yourself, like, ‘That was a lot of time, and there’s nothing to show for it.’ I’ve tried to tell myself that if you’re going to be a filmmaker, you can’t really talk like that about time, because you’ll hate yourself or feel very worthless. Debra Granik Read Quote
When I find those actors who are going to work that hard and collaborate that deeply, my role is to make sure there’s a whole lot there for them to work with. Debra Granik Read Quote
Sometimes you get ensnared by an idea, and it’s what I call ‘the sticky burr’: You go hiking, and a burr sticks to you, and that’s the film you’re going to make. Debra Granik Read Quote
I bring forward stories from the lives of everyday Americans: those whose path hasn’t been set out on easy street or who haven’t been given it all, those who are actually forging ahead because of their own personal resources, their moxie, their survival instincts. Debra Granik Read Quote
I’m reaching for emotion and drama, the drama of the everyday: what happens when you don’t have shelter, food, and clothing. There are some stakes. If you’re displaced or evicted, there’s a suspense: How will you solve that? Debra Granik Read Quote
