Steven Shainberg

The movie that made me want to make movies was "Blue Velvet."

— Steven Shainberg

You don't make movies about "men" and "women." You make movies about this guy and this woman and if you get them…

— Steven Shainberg

The problem with most love stories in my opinion is that they're too simplistic.

— Steven Shainberg

Like all independent movies, the first thing you're looking for is a name actor who will justify your financing.

— Steven Shainberg

After 'Secretary,' I was wanting very badly to find something to make that I really cared about.

— Steven Shainberg

I think a lot of young women are probably fearful or embarrassed or cautious or hiding whatever their particular sexuality might be.…

— Steven Shainberg

Theres a kind of dream that movies sell to people: You can start as the lowliest person and rise to the top.…

— Steven Shainberg

Basically, independent film doesn't exist anymore. It does if you have two or three stars in your film, but it's just very…

— Steven Shainberg

I'm basically drawn to defeated, injured, hurt, barely walking characters.

— Steven Shainberg

You hear this said about actors sometimes, that they're fearless, but she [ Maggie Gyllenhaal] really is.

— Steven Shainberg

If somebody sent me a good script, I would do it, and I mean that, but it never happens. Not once. I…

— Steven Shainberg

I peeled off La Brea and went home and instantly made a reservation to come back to New York. Essentially, I fired…

— Steven Shainberg

I would define independent film as a movie that is not financed by any of the smaller film companies. Because then, those…

— Steven Shainberg

I'm almost exclusively interested in what happens behind closed doors, between people. The removal of their public face.

— Steven Shainberg

There's a kind of dream that movies sell to people: You can start as the lowliest person and rise to the top.…

— Steven Shainberg

Who could be more desperate than filmmakers?

— Steven Shainberg

Diane Arbus is one of the most mysterious, enigmatic, and frighteningly daring artists of the 20th century. Her work emerged from a…

— Steven Shainberg

I love moving through long spaces and being enclosed.

— Steven Shainberg