I’ve always loved the future. But I must say the future changes a lot quicker than it used to. An era used to last thirty or forty years – now we’re lucky if it’s five. – Nicolas Roeg
I’ve always felt that, although Truffaut was greatly revered and admired, at the same time, in terms of film and how much he loved film, he was underestimated. – Nicolas Roeg
There was a village watercolour society and they’d come and paint in my field. I watched them from the window, the way they would struggle this way and that to find the perfect moment. God has made every angle on that beautiful, and I felt that tremendously. – Nicolas Roeg
When I look around, I begin to understand what Socrates meant when he said, ‘How much there is in the world I do not want.’ – Nicolas Roeg
Marketing is a very good thing, but it shouldn’t control everything. It should be the tool, not that which dictates. – Nicolas Roeg
I was very glad later when I was directing that I wasn’t in the hands of a cinematographer and hoping that he would do it well. I would know what he was doing, and we could discuss how that scene would look. – Nicolas Roeg
Youth is so exciting. It’ll take over. I don’t want to be swept away. I want to be with the taking-over people, right to the end. – Nicolas Roeg
I’ve always noticed that films set in any sort of future very rarely draw on the present. – Nicolas Roeg
When a book is just a plot, you know, two men fight for the love of a woman in a wild frontier, I immediately ask, ‘Why?’ – Nicolas Roeg
I was always a bit arty-farty as a boy. ‘Come on, Mr. Arty-Farty,’ my sister used to say to me. – Nicolas Roeg
There’s no one ‘right’ way of making a science fiction movie; there’s no one way of making any kind of movie, really! – Nicolas Roeg
Too many films today feel formulaic and familiar. I prefer it when the familiar is made to feel strange. – Nicolas Roeg
And later I thought, I can’t think how anyone can become a director without learning the craft of cinematography. – Nicolas Roeg
I’ve used mirrors in a lot of movies. I think the mirror is an extraordinary thing, also the reflective, a reflection in water, etc. – Nicolas Roeg
Years ago I had a house in Sussex, it was like Arcadia, with an old Victorian bridge, a pond and the Downs. – Nicolas Roeg
You make the movie through the cinematography – it sounds quite a simple idea, but it was like a huge revelation to me. – Nicolas Roeg
Some people are very lucky, and have the story in their heads. I’ve never storyboarded anything. I like the idea of chance. What makes God laugh is people who make plans. – Nicolas Roeg
A lot of my movies have come to be thought about only years after the fact, and I’m sad about that but also happy about it in a way, as it’s given them longevity. – Nicolas Roeg
Any change in form produces a fear of change, and that has accelerated. Marketing is the death of invention, because marketing deals with the familiar. – Nicolas Roeg
They think something’s gone wrong, but in Don’t Look Now, for instance, one scene was made by a mistake. It’s the scene where Donald Sutherland goes to look for the policeman who’s investigating the two women. – Nicolas Roeg
