Zooms are lazy closeups. And too many people hang their hats on video assist; it's a way to avoid too much. Video assist helps people dissociate from the scene that they are directing. Pretty soon the director will be directing… — Gordon Willis Copy Share Image
Good films are not made by accident, nor is good photography. You can have good things happen, on occasion, by accident that can be… — Gordon Willis Copy Share Image
I hate when somebody says, "This may not work." You'll never get anywhere with that. I've pushed a lot of people out of my… — Gordon Willis Copy Share Image
Complexity is not good. People don't understand the elegance of simplicity. — Gordon Willis Copy Share Image
I don't really like directing. I've had a good relationship with actors, but I can do what I do and back off. I don't… — Gordon Willis Copy Share Image
The lack of perfection, that's the hardest quality of all, because you're fighting your instincts. You're trained to want to do things perfectly. — Gordon Willis Copy Share Image
A huge problem in movies or with people who work on movies is that two people can look at the same thing but they… — Gordon Willis Copy Share Image
If you take a sophisticated idea, reduce it to the simplest possible terms so that it’s accessible to everybody, and don’t get simple mixed… — Gordon Willis Copy Share Image
I don't believe in doing thousands of cuts, then giving it to the editor to make the movie. 'Dump-truck directing' is my reference to… — Gordon Willis Copy Share Image
There are a lot of cameramen but not so many photographers. And a lot of cameramen attack from a technical approach without much imagination.… — Gordon Willis Copy Share Image
A cinematographer is a visual psychiatrist - moving an audience through a movie ... making them think the way you want them to think,… — Gordon Willis Copy Share Image
I'm a minimalist. I see things in simple ways...It's human nature to define complexity as better. Well, it's not. — Gordon Willis Copy Share Image
