Top 100 Quotes About Independent Films
#1. I would like to do something dark or small. I love independent films. I love emotional scenes. I love people who are struggling with something. I think it's just the juxtaposition to my incredibly happy, positive demeanor.
Shailene Woodley
#2. The films that I really liked and the ones that really blew my mind when I was younger were independent films. They're like great records to me.
Jim Sturgess
#4. In a perfect world, I could be doing some bigger films and balance that with some independent films because they seem to be the most challenging and unique.
Sherilyn Fenn
#5. Hollywood ... that's not going to be my niche at all. If anyone is going wants to work with me, I would think it's going to be independent films. I'm not 22!
Lesley Manville
#6. I love independent films, it's the only place as an actor you're totally allowed to breathe.
John Leguizamo
#7. The greatest thing about having done 'Orange' are the doors that have opened for me, and people have been able to see me, like the executives and the casting directors - also, all of the fantastic directors and writers for independent films.
Ruby Rose
#8. Independent films have a very different cachet than success films.
Diane Lane
#9. Doing that, then doing a lot of theater, which I love. Doing guest stars, did two independent films that are going around to all these festivals. Both of them are going to be at the Lake Tahoe Film Festival.
Austin Peck
#10. Independent films are where you really get to cut your teeth and have some fun and do the things that mainstream Hollywood doesn't want to do.
Anthony Anderson
#11. Independent film is almost nonexistent right now, because all the distributers that used to love to put out these little art films are all out of business right now, because it costs so much to open a movie.
Ron Perlman
#12. An eight-hour movie is definitely not a two-hour movie. An eight-hour movie is really like five independent films, if you think about it, because each is usually an hour and a half. In some ways, it is like making a movie. It's just a lot more information.
Cary Fukunaga
#13. I enjoy doing independent films more, only because there's more freedom. There's not as many cooks tampering with what you are trying to do.
Illeana Douglas
#14. There was a golden era in film-making in Hollywood back in the 1970s, and although there is some great independent film-making in America, it's actually very hard to get independent films made in the United States. It's much more feasible from Europe.
Lenny Abrahamson
#15. The problem for independent filmmakers is that huge companies control all the promotion, all the advertising. Hollywood films' advertising budgets are as large as their shooting budgets.
Robert Kane Pappas
#16. I've been doing mostly independent films, and things like 'Goal' give me a chance to have more options.
Kuno Becker
#17. There is a straight-forward definition for 'Independent Filmmaking'. The term references a group of films that are financed by money that comes from outside the studio system. In a literal sense that is what it means.
Andrew Neel
#18. I was still making movies so it wasnt as if I were working in a bar, but they were independent films that couldnt find distributors.
Linda Fiorentino
#19. I've never had a good game plan. At a certain point, making independent films became more and more appealing to me because I like freshness and originality.
Jonathan Demme
#20. I love being part of huge mega blockbusters, and I love being a part of small independent films and small stage.
Natalie Dormer
#21. I really (became) very independent. I was start(ed) to write one-woman shows and mak(e) films and to me I think I really felt like my choice (was) more important than any kind of career goal.
Margaret Cho
#22. I often find the smaller, independent films are much more rewarding than the bigger stuff, but you do the bigger stuff because it's a business, and you've got to show your face a bit, get yourself around.
Jamie Bell
#23. I haven't done a lot of studio movies, but studio movies and independent films are always just as fun as each other.
Kodi Smit-McPhee
#24. I did four independent films during the break between 'Twilight' and 'New Moon.' I haven't even really had time to sit back and process it all. But when you do finally sit back and think about it, it's incredible.
Ashley Greene
#25. We have a thriving subculture of 'independent' American movies that makes an impact on America as a whole roughly equivalent to that of a the modern literary novel. These are the films sincere viewers marry, whereas, once upon a time, movies were a lifetime of one night stands.
Edward Jay Epstein
#26. I worked initially in very low-budget independent films that I often wrote. My early work was all written by myself, and then I adapted 'Tsotsi,' so I was used to the writing process being, in a way, integral to my directing. I felt it really prepared me.
Gavin Hood
#27. But it's often been the case, I've done so many countless small, independent films that really 3.2 people have seen, so you never know. You do it for the joy of the part and not necessarily expect anyone to see the final product.
Helena Bonham Carter
#28. In the early '90s, when those little art films started coming out, we were introduced to Quentin Tarantino and guys like that, and independent cinema was something that everyone wanted to be a part of.
Ron Perlman
#29. Lots of TV is kind of becoming almost the new form for adult storytelling and cinema, but still with some independent films you still have those kind of jewels that people are able to make and it takes a lot of effort.
Alicia Vikander
#30. The quality of mainstream cinema has changed. A lot of independent voices feel they can leave everything behind and make independent films.
Anurag Kashyap
#31. I get called to do a lot of labors of love ... independent films on very small budgets. If I have the time and if the project speaks to me, it's better than sitting around, right?
George Wendt
#32. I think that in America there is a new movement of underground movies that wants to kick the ass of independent films that they think whine too much.
John Waters
#33. To make independent films, you can't think about them too much, ponder on them too much, get overwhelmed by the enormity of it.
Michael Rapaport
#34. The independent films are really where I kind of come from and where I feel comfortable.
Mia Wasikowska
#35. Oh, I love making independent films, it's such a special, magical thing because you collaborate with a small group of people and everyone's pitching in. You'll see producers setting up the lunch table and the sound guy driving a van. We're all really there because we want to be.
Olivia Thirlby
#36. Independent films in this country are in the same position. Miramax and Fine Line are not independent - they're with Disney! Come on. Or they're with Warner Brothers. They're all with somebody.
Dennis Hopper
#37. I always went to see independent films, they're the movies I'm usually most excited to see.
Elizabeth Olsen
#38. I don't think American independent films have ever really been particularly experimental, except for the original guys from the '60s who were huge influences, like Stan Brakhage, Robert Breer, and Stan van der Beek. They were the true independents.
Gus Van Sant
#39. I've been doing independent films for 10 years, but one out of five didn't see the light of day.
Scoot McNairy
#40. I'm in a position where I'm being continually knocked back for the kind of independent films I want to be in because people don't know who I am.
Rufus Sewell
#41. I suppose the real cult things now are independent films made for a million pounds.
Martin Freeman
#42. So most of my acting experience came in college when I was living away from them. I acted in various independent films, and I got some commercial work and stuff like that.
Maria Menounos
#43. I try to balance independent films with commercial films, and I've done a pretty good job of it over the years.
John Travolta
#44. I would never want to do something just for the sake of being independent or for the sake of doing big films. I'm always surprised by the material I'm attracted to. And that's how I like it. I like to be surprised.
Alice Englert
#45. There are lots of great movies coming out of the U.S. but it's not something I've ever really been interested in. They're great films but I much prefer the smaller independent films, which are more thought provoking and experimental.
Billie Piper
#46. I definitely want to continue working in independent films - and big budget stuff as well - but there's a freedom you have when you're not getting paid. It's easier to say no and there's no pressure to please the powers that be. Also I don't have to hear 'flirt and smile more.'
Trieste Kelly Dunn
#47. I still have auditions for independent films. I've been still working.
Creed Bratton
#48. You work hard making independent films for fourteen years and you get voted best breasts.
Scarlett Johansson
#49. It's very difficult to break into motion pictures, but it's oddly easier for directors today because of independent films and cable, who have inherited for the most part those films of substance that the studios are reluctant to finance.
Mark Rydell
#50. You've got these big studio films and these tiny independent films now. It's very much either/or. With the independent films, it's always a beautiful risk - it might never be seen. With the studio films, you're conforming to the formula of what's always been in place.
Imogen Poots
#51. I get a lot of independent films from people who are starting out.
Loretta Devine
#52. When independent films break through and actually make it into any level of mainstream-ness or get seen by people or find a life actually in theaters, it's extraordinary. And it doesn't happen that often.
Karen Allen
#53. I think that there's a lot more freedom in the low budget, the independent films where, unfortunately, you don't have the money, necessarily, to get the orchestras in there to play a lot of stuff. But, you have a lot more freedom, very often.
Danny Elfman
#54. People don't read any more. It's a sad state of affairs. Reading's the only thing that allows you to use your imagination. When you watch films it's someone else's vision, isn't it?
[Interview in The Independent, 15 October 2005]
Lemmy Kilmister
#56. I've done a lot of independent films that not a lot of people have seen.
Katia Winter
#57. The awards season gives a chance for independent films to have a bit of longevity in the press and the media.
Danny Boyle
#58. There are always at least five good films at the end of the year to get nominated, but generally speaking nowadays, it's more of the independent films that are recognized.
Mark Rydell
#59. Television and cable have become the new independent films, in a sense, for writers and actors to gravitate towards. That's why I like short films, too; I love doing readings, audio books, working with young filmmakers; anything that keeps you from getting blase about yourself or in a rut.
Campbell Scott
#60. I moved with my mom to Los Angeles for her to pursue her acting career, and she got a job casting atmosphere in some independent films.
Thomas Ian Nicholas
#61. I like to believe that intimate moments between characters don't need to be relegated to independent films.
Colin Trevorrow
#62. But I think the thing I'm proud of about the film is that there aren't many films - either independent films or mainstream Hollywood films - that are like this; it's of its own times, and it's the film Mike Nichols wanted to make.
Patrick Marber
#63. It just seems like that because I do a lot of independent films that don't get to the mainstream.
William Hurt
#64. I love independent film making. So much real love and passion go into them and you can feel it while you watch. As for my career, I don't want to be famous. I just want to be a part of as many beautiful, crazy, unique films as possible.
Alicia Sixtos
#65. I was concerned about that, because I've always been so specific about doing independent films, but I've never done anything that's so genuinely and ridiculously fun. And that's a great thing, for me to discover that that's possible.
Sarah Polley
#66. I watch many, many, many independent films every year that you see once in a film festival and they're never heard of ever again. Many of them are very, very good.
Karen Allen
#67. I used to do lots of independent films and for a while I was very content living in New York City and doing independent movies and off-Broadway theater. I loved it, I had a really good time doing that, and I worked on a lot of projects that are very dear to my heart, both plays and films.
Jared Harris
#68. I've made a number of independent films that didn't receive theatrical distribution, that a lot of people haven't heard of, and as a result, I've conditioned myself to go into small independent films with the expectation that they will not, and therefore, I have to find my reward elsewhere.
William Mapother
#69. I've love to do more movies. Just because I'm interested in the medium very much. I've done a lot of theatre at this point, and I've done a lot of TV. I've done a few independent films, but a lot of them have not seen the light of day. It'd be really nice to be in a film that gets out there.
Morena Baccarin
#70. I started doing independent films. My first one was 'Miss Bala,' which was very well-received at film festivals.
Stephanie Sigman
#71. My good films were independent and my bad films were not.
Ralph Bakshi
#72. I love the opportunity to do lots of different kinds of projects - independent films and big studio epics as well. I'd love to be able to do a mixture.
Holliday Grainger
#73. As far as acting in films, there is not much out there that is very interesting to do. The ones that are interesting to me are independent films and they have trouble raising money. With people putting their money into blockbusters, there is not much left for the independents.
Karen Allen
#74. I don't want to just do independent movies and I don't want to just do adventure films. I enjoy both, and I think both are cogent.
Nicolas Cage
#75. Independent film is film that has thought in it. There's no independent thought in studio films. It's collective thought.
Seymour Cassel
#76. Independent films are really one of the greatest resources these days to actually find unfiltered truth.
Josh Tickell
#77. In the beginning, it wasn't even a question of deciding I'm going to do independent film and not commercial films - I wasn't being offered any commercial films, and there wasn't an independent scene.
Steve Buscemi
#78. I teach at USC. I have a big class of 360 kids, only about a fifth of whom are film majors. I don't just show the Hollywood blockbusters. I show independent films, foreign films, documentaries.
Leonard Maltin
#79. We're told that independent film lovers ... folks that are used to watching art house films, won't come out and see a film with black people in it - I've been told that in rooms, big rooms, studio rooms, and I know that's not true.
Ava DuVernay
#80. I think beautiful independent films are made, and I think they're as close to what theater can be because they're not loaded with all of the extra stuff. It's human, and it's more organic, but theater is very unique ... It's a different connection altogether.
Sam Underwood
#81. Right now my career is totally schizophrenic, because when an American production like Hitchcock Presents asks to see my work I would never dream of showing them my independent films.
Atom Egoyan
#82. I like independent films ... European films. I do go and see popular films as well because my kids force me.
Frances O'Grady
#83. TV is sort of the only way to go for an actress my age to make a decent salary; with independent films, you just can't.
Jessica Lange
#84. The so-called 'last golden age,' in the 1970s, most of those movies were independent films.
Michael Douglas
#85. I like working in both movies and television. Television is faster, not very much rehearsal and a lot of material is shot in a day. Big budget movies are luxurious in terms of the schedule. Independent films often shoot fast as well.
Juliet Landau
#86. I'm really interested in making movies that people see: I've made a lot of independent films and it's really depressing when no one sees them.
Elizabeth Banks
#87. There's plenty of great independent films to do, but you can't support yourself making independent film as an actress.
Gaby Hoffmann
#88. The majority of work I do is in independent films, where you're lucky if you have five takes.
Patricia Clarkson
#89. It's hard to make a living at independent films, at least in my experience. It can be hard to be really creatively fulfilled in some television. Between the two, I get a bit of both.
Julianne Nicholson
#90. I guess in the independent market, I'd be getting offers, but in terms of big studio films, I still have to audition. I don't think my name is that well-known, I don't have much of a following to guarantee box office success yet.
Michael Fassbender
#91. I started to make my own films, however small and however independent they were, from the beginning. And so, even though I was nobody, I was always the master of my own work.
Mira Nair
#92. A lot of independent films offer a harsh reality check.
Aubrey Plaza
#93. I'm not prejudiced about what type of movies I'm in, what form they take or whether they're studio or independent. I just want to make films that are going to be good.
Michael Pitt
#94. All in all, I'd like to venture into film. Films are my staple diet, so I would love to be part of a feature film, independent film ... it all just depends on the story and the people behind it, really.
Tom Weston-Jones
#95. I would recommend going out for more independent films. You can get bigger roles and really work your acting chops and build a reel.
Valerie Azlynn
#96. When you work on big commercial movies, of course there's more money involved and you can still do some good work. But with an independent, you get films that are really close to the writers' and directors' heart. Somehow it becomes a little deeper. A little more meat and not as much flash.
Dennis Haysbert
#97. I know there's a certain love and affection for the homemade on the Internet, and I'm all for that, too, and I appreciate it in alternative music, and I appreciate it in B-movies and in Sundance, independent films.
Robert Englund
#98. You earn very little money on independent films and I'm the provider for my home, so I do have to think of taking one for the accountant time and again and that means studio pictures.
Vera Farmiga
#99. Practically, I am interested in television because it keeps me home and it's fast, and I exist in independent films mostly, and you don't get paid for those, or you don't get paid enough.
Campbell Scott
#100. Which is why I felt I was truly blessed this year, with leads in two nice films, and also the luxury of being able to do a studio film and an independent afterwards was fantastic.
Rachel True
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