I think the parallels of a giant power with overwhelming military superiority and might, with America and Rome, it seems obvious to… — Kevin Macdonald America Copy Share Image
In war films, even more than in other kinds of documentary, we've come to think that shaky, poor-quality footage is somehow more… — Kevin Macdonald Cinema Copy Share Image
I don't think life gets any better than sitting in the sun while a legend of French cinema tells you stories about… — Kevin Macdonald Cinema Copy Share Image
When you're an outsider and going into a culture like America, it's easier to stay away from any cliches because you're not… — Kevin Macdonald America Copy Share Image
When you look at almost every submarine movie, to some degree or another, there's this 'Moby Dick' element, this Ahab element to… — Kevin Macdonald Copy Share Image
Documentary makers use other people's lives as their raw material, and that is morally indefensible. — Kevin Macdonald Documentary Copy Share Image
In some ways, making documentaries is like being a journalist. You interview people and then use the bits you want to use… — Kevin Macdonald Being Copy Share Image
Most people in Uganda have something good to say about Amin - 'He was funny; he gave us pride to be African.' — Kevin Macdonald Funny Copy Share Image
If there is a tendency in modern television I hate, it is the unstoppable march of the dramatic reconstruction to tell the… — Kevin Macdonald Ancient egyptian Copy Share Image
I'm not particularly ethnically Scottish; I have one grandfather who is Scottish, although he's called Macdonald, and you don't get a lot… — Kevin Macdonald Copy Share Image
I think everything that I've done, I've been involved with for longer. Either you develop it from scratch, or you take something,… — Kevin Macdonald Copy Share Image
A publisher friend of mine suggested that I write a book about my grandfather, who had just died. I had nothing else… — Kevin Macdonald Books Copy Share Image
In my early career as a documentarian, I suppose I was trying to make films which - where it was all about… — Kevin Macdonald Copy Share Image
For me, what works well about 'Life in a Day' is that it's emotionally affecting without being manipulative. It really does make… — Kevin Macdonald Copy Share Image
When we made 'Life in a Day,' we asked people around the globe to record their lives on a single ordinary day.… — Kevin Macdonald Christmas Copy Share Image
Coming from documentaries, my biggest challenge was to understand actors' psychologies. American actors take it all very seriously; British actors don't enter… — Kevin Macdonald Copy Share Image
You can get good performances in quite sizable roles from people who have never been in front of a camera, people who… — Kevin Macdonald Actor Copy Share Image
For me, the aim of making any film like this, any film about an artist, would be to send you back to… — Kevin Macdonald Copy Share Image
I love Humphrey Jennings. People ask me who my favorite documentary maker is, and he's certainly in the top three. — Kevin Macdonald Documentary Copy Share Image
When you're trying to make a film, you're trying to find a way to love your subject, and you want your audience… — Kevin Macdonald Cinema Copy Share Image
We're all fascinated by the way other people live their lives, how they cope with hardship and triumph, what they put in… — Kevin Macdonald Family Copy Share Image
I can't claim my grandfather's work has influenced mine directly, but his life certainly inspired me to follow this path. — Kevin Macdonald Copy Share Image
The submarine genre is a category with all its own rules. But shooting on water is famously tough. — Kevin Macdonald Genre Copy Share Image
There's something about the lack of certainty with a documentary, which is exhausting if you do three in a row. It's nerve-wracking. — Kevin Macdonald Certainty Copy Share Image
'Uprising' was one of the first three or four albums I ever bought in 1980 when I was 13, and that had… — Kevin Macdonald Copy Share Image
It is hard to find the soul of Mick Jagger. It is very hidden. I think his true personality has receded so… — Kevin Macdonald Copy Share Image
I like to take a little of what I learned in fiction and apply it to documentary and vice versa. — Kevin Macdonald Copy Share Image
The amazing thing about Bob Marley is that there is no moving footage of him at all for the first ten or… — Kevin Macdonald Amazing Copy Share Image
People who die in an untimely way who are artists, somehow that validates their art, we feel. Why culturally we feel that,… — Kevin Macdonald Art Copy Share Image
It's always nice to have the same people that you are familiar with and shorthand with, obviously, to be around you. — Kevin Macdonald Copy Share Image
I've done a few celebrity-related things, and I think on the first one - about Mick Jagger - I got stung and… — Kevin Macdonald Cinema Copy Share Image
I think we're all greedy. Who do you know who says, 'I have enough! I don't need any more!'? It's part of… — Kevin Macdonald Copy Share Image
With 'Black Sea,' I long had an idea that I wanted to do a film about people stuck on the bottom of… — Kevin Macdonald Cinema Copy Share Image
It's interesting to me that the Arab Spring started in Tunisia, and in the marches, people were singing 'Get up, stand up,… — Kevin Macdonald Arab spring Copy Share Image
John Lennon made wonderful music, which people listen to as music. Nobody around the world is living their life according to the… — Kevin Macdonald Around the world Copy Share Image
I find it really difficult when you make a movie where it is set in Russia and everyone speaks in English. It… — Kevin Macdonald Copy Share Image
Put someone on a horse looking cold and wet, and they don't have to act. They just are cold and wet. — Kevin Macdonald Copy Share Image
There were many times during the filming of 'Touching the Void' when I wondered why I had ever thought I wanted to… — Kevin Macdonald Cinema Copy Share Image
