Doug Liman Quotes

Author Image

Doug Liman

Profession : Director

Birth : July 24, 1965

To be a lone filmmaker thousands of miles from home with nobody believing in me, that seems romantic.

Doug Liman

I chose 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' specifically 'cause I had just made 'The Bourne Identity' and made a film that glamorized being an action hero, and I wanted to make the exact opposite. I wanted to make a movie that glamorized maintaining a marriage, and that made the action hero part seem easy and made the marriage part seem hard.

Doug Liman

Almost anything can be justified as a style of filmmaking if it works.

Doug Liman

When I was shooting 'The Bourne Identity,' I had a mantra: 'How come you never see James Bond pay a phone bill?' It sounds trite, but it became the foundation of that franchise.

Doug Liman

In 'The Bourne Identity,' I wanted to give the audience the feeling of being in the car with Jason Bourne, not just watching him drive but be in the car with him, and 'The Wall' is the continuation of that immersive filmmaking style. Where you're trapped behind the wall with Aaron Taylor-Johnson - for better or worse, you're trapped there with him.

Doug Liman

I didn't grow up like Quentin Tarantino, watching esoteric art films at the video store. I'd go to the multiplex and see big, mainstream movies, and I'd go, 'I want to make one of those one day.'

Doug Liman

I've always been interested in giving the audience a first-person experience in my movies.

Doug Liman

I went to USC film school, briefly, which is a very traditional film school.

Doug Liman

Even more than 'Swingers,' 'Go', for me, defines my career.

Doug Liman

I'm really attracted to anti-heroes, and I'm a little bit of a troublemaker myself, and a little bit of a rule-breaker, and I like spies.

Doug Liman

At the end of the day, the less money you have, the easier it is to make a movie.

Doug Liman

I think of myself as making independent films within the studio system. Yes, I've made movies with significantly larger budgets, and I've also made movies with smaller budgets.

Doug Liman

The movie I end up with is the movie I aspired to make.

Doug Liman

I don't really analyze my process. I do know that if it's not right, I won't move on. I'm tenacious to a fault about that.

Doug Liman

When I'm working on a film, I think about how it will play with a tiny audience of friends whose opinions I respect - basically, a 40-bloc radius from my apartment in Manhattan.

Doug Liman

My dad couldn't connect to my wanting to be a filmmaker. He was very connected in entertainment, and through him I met Steven Spielberg and got rides on his private plane to California. I'd see Spielberg's people reading scripts. I was like, 'That's what I want to be when I grow up.'

Doug Liman

I go into a movie sort of saying what it's not going to be.

Doug Liman

A part of me is a liberal New Yorker involved in politics and certain attitudes about movies. I kind of lost my indie credibility over 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith.' I know I haven't lost it. I just have to go make an independent movie. I just have to do it. Just for me.

Doug Liman

I probably shouldn't treat interviews as therapy sessions, but I don't keep a diary, so these end up being my way of keeping track of where I'm at and letting it all out.

Doug Liman

I realize I am contradictory: I have an independent filmmaker's sensibility and a Hollywood director's short-attention span.

Doug Liman