Quotes by Cary Fukunaga | Best Quotes of All Time

"I think any character has to be well-rounded, whether they are male or female - they have to be complex and make choices that maybe we don't agree with, you know? I guess that's what makes them human."

Cary Fukunaga

Character You Think Choices

"My ideas tend to be either really big in terms of like, the logistics, or really small."

Cary Fukunaga

Big Ideas Like Logistics

"I'm definitely sensitive to the idea of exploitation. You don't want to glamorize certain things."

Cary Fukunaga

You Want Things Exploitation

"My mom was married to a Mexican guy - a surfer - and so we'd kind of camp out on the beach the swell season."

Cary Fukunaga

Mom Beach Guy Kind

"When I see an image in my head that compels me, where there's this mystery about what's going to happen next or could happen next, I'll be intrigued. There are so many scripts that you read, and you know exactly what's going to happen, and there aren't too many where you can't tell within the first 20 pages where it's going."

Cary Fukunaga

Me You Mystery See

"I think I have this field around me that makes electronics work bad. It's not like an entropy thing; it happens very quickly."

Cary Fukunaga

Work Me Bad Think

"New York is perfect for Tanizaki because it's filled with so many dark spaces."

Cary Fukunaga

New Dark Perfect Because

"I wrote my first script, which was 50 pages, at age 15. It was about two brothers in love with the same nurse while they're convalescing in a Civil War hospital."

Cary Fukunaga

Love Age War Hospital

"My dad worked for a generator company and then UC Berkeley, and my mom was as a dental hygienist and then eventually a history teacher. My uncles and aunts, all of them are elementary school teachers or scientists."

Cary Fukunaga

History Teacher School Dad

"Increasingly, there's much better material on television, but there's not always the time and money to make it, so you've got to make sure you make it in the right place. It also depends on time commitment; a lot of directors will make a pilot, but a series is just a whole other level of involvement."

Cary Fukunaga

You Time Money Better

"My dad is from Japanese descent, my mom is from Swedish descent and, through marriages and divorces, a pretty multicultural family - a lot of Spanish speakers in the family."

Cary Fukunaga

Family Dad Mom Through

"If you're directing, it doesn't really matter any more if it's going straight to TV - what matters is whether you have the resources to make a story that moves you."

Cary Fukunaga

You Matter More Going

"I didn't grow up watching detective shows. I've never even seen an episode of 'CSI.'"

Cary Fukunaga

Grow Never Watching Up

"My manager sent me the first two scripts for 'True Detective,' and I just thought they were so interesting and that the world they were depicting was so titillating to me."

Cary Fukunaga

Me World True First

"I love period pieces. But it's hard to get money to make costumed dramas, so we'll see."

Cary Fukunaga

Love Money See Hard

"I don't storyboard, and I don't really shot list. I let the shots be determined by how the actors and I figure out the blocking in a scene, and then from there, we cover it."

Cary Fukunaga

Shot Scene How Blocking

"After 'Sin Nombre,' I just needed to take a break to go to completely different worlds."

Cary Fukunaga

Sin Go Just Take

"I like characters that make choices and try to drive their own fate."

Cary Fukunaga

Drive Fate Try Choices

"My grandma was really sick when I was working on 'Sin Nombre' and eventually died that summer when we were finishing the film. But I was able to bring an unfinished version of the film for her to watch."

Cary Fukunaga

Sin Sick Summer Finishing

"My friends just make fun of me in some shape or form."

Cary Fukunaga

Me Fun Just Friends

"The theoretical casting part of movies is the funnest part. You really can imagine so many different versions of a story based on who's embodying it."

Cary Fukunaga

You Movies Story Imagine

"So often at home in the West Village, I'm like, 'Why aren't I allowed a horse?' I would keep a horse in a stable in my apartment, and I would fit him with rubber shoes, and we'd just roll him out. If I needed to go to a meeting somewhere, I'd just get on my horse and go across town."

Cary Fukunaga

Home Village Shoes Go

"'City of God' and 'Slumdog Millionaire' are both films that I really like, but they are stylistically the opposite of what I wanted to do."

Cary Fukunaga

God City Like Millionaire

"Obviously, a lot of TV shows are based on chronological episode viewing, and the stories are contingent upon watching it in order. Syndicated shows, you don't have to watch in order. You're just watching characters that don't change that much."

Cary Fukunaga

Change You Watching Just

"In TV, you have no time and sort of just carpet bomb the scene with as many angles as possible as quickly as possible and find it in the edit."

Cary Fukunaga

You Time Possible Find

"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

You Information Think More

"'True Detective' would not pass The Bechdel Test."

Cary Fukunaga

True Test Would Detective

"I binge write, basically. I do a lot of prep, research, setup. I'll have a pretty detailed outline. Sort of like a beat outline. And then I'll add little notes and dialogue ideas, and I'll just create a 20-page document."

Cary Fukunaga

Dialogue Research Ideas Like

"When you have a script, and you're discussing what it can be, and who going to play what role, that's a kind of like a fantasy football game. You can imagine these different dream teams interpreting these characters that only exist in your head."

Cary Fukunaga

You Football Game Who

"Literally, I don't have a television. So I don't really know what's happening pop-culturally. I read the 'New York Times.' And there's one worldwide cabin blog that I look at."

Cary Fukunaga

Look New Know Television

"I'd done the method bit before from, like, age 15 to 19. I was a Civil War re-enactor."

Cary Fukunaga

Age War Like Done

"I'm clearly not meant to be in front of the camera. I'm really not meant for anything but behind the camera."

Cary Fukunaga

Anything Behind Camera Meant To Be

"'Victoria Para Chino,' my 2nd-year film at NYU, gave birth to 'Sin Nombre.'"

Cary Fukunaga

Sin Birth Film NYU

"The anticipation-speculation that comes with a weekly schedule is a double-edged sword. Because people have more time to talk about things, some crazy ideas get a lot of attention."

Cary Fukunaga

Time People Crazy Sword

"As storytellers, you're always somehow creating history."

Cary Fukunaga

History You Always Creating

"Have you seen McConaughey in 'Unsolved Mysteries?' Even back then, it's a great performance! And he's mowing the lawn."

Cary Fukunaga

You Great Back Performance

"I began writing fictional stories and little screenplays when I was in fifth grade."

Cary Fukunaga

Writing Little Began Fictional

"I think the semantics of mini-series for a network is that it has an end."

Cary Fukunaga

Think End I Think Network

"The problem with being a writer/director: unless you're really disciplined, you start adding projects, and you have to make time to make them. Because you have to write them... no one else is writing them for me."

Cary Fukunaga

Me You Time Start

"In terms of tackling different subjects, I can't really think of anything I wouldn't want to try; that's the fun of it right? Each new style brings new challenges - not that you shouldn't focus on one and master it, but it takes so long to make a film, you just want to have some variety."

Cary Fukunaga

Long You Challenges Focus

"Tom Hooper had done 'John Adams,' and David Lynch did 'Twin Peaks.' I figured I could do eight hours of television, and I wanted to."

Cary Fukunaga

Done Television Did Peaks

"You need the actors to feel as much ownership of the performance and the direction of the story as you do to get the most out of everyone's potential. Part of it is just making sure we all have the same vision."

Cary Fukunaga

You Vision Feel Direction

"There's a lot of two-hander dialogue in 'True Detective,' and I needed to place those guys in locations where there were other levels of visual storytelling. It didn't necessarily have to move the plot forward, but it had to add tone or add to the overall feeling."

Cary Fukunaga

Dialogue Feeling True Place

"With 'Sin Nombre,' there are parts that I wish were longer. And with 'Jane Eyre' especially, there were parts that I had to compress that I thought it would have been really nice to spend more time with - to spend with the characters."

Cary Fukunaga

Time Sin More Wish

"I do want to direct a movie from horseback one day."

Cary Fukunaga

Day Want One Day Direct

"I love the idea of 3D, but it's completely superfluous to most stories."

Cary Fukunaga

Love Most Idea Superfluous

"In a city like New York, especially for young professionals who aren't in a family situation, most people don't cook for themselves. This is the only city I've ever lived in where I eat out every night."

Cary Fukunaga

Family People Night New

"No, ramen's not good for you. But in Japan, our favorite thing to do after drinking all night, especially in Sapporo where it's freezing cold, is to go to the ramen place at two, three in the morning."

Cary Fukunaga

Good You Morning Night

"'Jane Eyre' was one of those films that I was familiar with as a kid, and I always enjoyed the story."

Cary Fukunaga

Always Story Enjoyed Those

Cary Fukunaga

Popular Topics view all

Popular Author view all