There’s always somebody you can call and go have lunch with and just talk out an idea. And it’s great, because I need that. It’s part of my writing process, to early on sit people down and say, ‘Alright, this film I’m working on…’ and I tell them everything I have. Jeff Nichols Read Quote
When I saw the scene in ‘Close Encounters,’ and Richard Dreyfuss’s son is screaming at him – that’s a heartbreaking scene. And I remember being devastated by ‘E.T.’ Or when E.T. started to get sick. That broke me up a little bit. Jeff Nichols Read Quote
I think only the movies you do remember are the films you had an emotional connection to. Jeff Nichols Read Quote
My characters are not thinking about the act breaks. They’re thinking about what they need to do to move forward. As long as I focus on that, the story starts to progress. As soon as I think, ‘We’re 20 pages in, something better blow up,’ we’re in trouble. Jeff Nichols Read Quote
Sometimes as writers, we try and put narrative development above character development. We try to move our characters around like chess pieces that do our bidding. The problem with that is sometimes the characters do things they shouldn’t do. Things that are inorganic. Jeff Nichols Read Quote
I’ve kind of always had this balance between genre and personal dramas. It almost feels like the two help each other. If I was just to make a genre film, maybe it would be hollow and soulless. If I was just to make a personal drama, maybe it would be melodramatic and nobody would ever go see it. Jeff Nichols Read Quote
As a director, you see something in someone; you know it’s there, you just got to go get it. You do that with any actor. That’s your job. Jeff Nichols Read Quote
The films that have influenced me most are: ‘The Hustler’, ‘Badlands’, ‘Hud’, ‘Tender Mercies’, ‘Cool Hand Luke’, ‘A Perfect World’, and ‘Laurence of Arabia’. I also really like ‘Fletch’. I feel like all of these films reached an honest place in regard to the human condition while also stringing together really entertaining stories. Jeff Nichols Read Quote
I’ll be honest: ‘Badlands’ changed my life: it really did rewire my brain as to how film can operate. Jeff Nichols Read Quote
