Jane Campion Quotes

I would love to see more women directors because they represent half of the population and gave birth to the whole world. Without them the rest [of the world] are not getting to know the whole story.

There are some things that are real, that you can see, that you can observe, like the moon, and grass and things. But for ideas to become real, they have to be played on your senses.

For me, being a director is about watching, not about telling people what to do. Or maybe it's like being a mirror; if they didn't have me to look at, they wouldn't be able to put the make-up on.

I think if it's interesting, it's interesting, and if it's not, it's not working.

I'm someone who loves to play. I make films so I can have fun with the characters.

It's harder being a woman director because on the whole women don't have husbands or boyfriends who are willing to be wives

Only when you are relaxed can you see what's going on.

The studio system is kind of an old boys system and it's difficult for them to trust women to be capable

Performers are so vulnerable. They're frightened of humiliation, sure their work will be crap. I try to make an environment where it's warm, where it's OK to fail - a kind of home, I suppose.

Women today are dealing with both their independence and also the fact that their lives are built around finding and satisfying the romantic models we grew up with.

To deny women directors, as I suspect is happening in the States, is to deny the feminine vision.

I think the whole tension about romanticism is the way it builds and builds, and the moment it's consummated, the tension's over.

I think I made good movies.

If you start with a good idea, you can encapsulate it in a phrase and explain it. I like high-concept films. Everyone can get hold of it. I don't think there's any harm in that at all.

Tragedy makes you grow up.

I have to admit that I had a lot of problems with poetry.

As for how criticism of Keats' poetry relates to criticism of my own work, I'll leave that for others to decide.

And, I mean, I think poetry does need to be met to some extent, especially, I guess, 19th century poetry, and for me, it's just been so worth the effort. It's like I'm planting a garden in my head.

I fell in love again (laughs).

Between 18 and 26 I acted professionally, on the stage and a little bit on television. Acting is okay, but it's quite pressurized. Then I went to England - I wanted to reinvent myself.

In some ways Holy Smoke is about people's journey to the heart.

The Piano ended up on television. Everything ends up there anyway.

It's a luxury to be able to tell a long form story. I love novels, and I love to have a long relationship with characters.

If you read Keats's poems, they're often full of doubts and anxieties. They can be quite tough.

I can't imagine people telling me what to do - I just can't imagine it.

But I think it's quite clear in my work that my orientation isn't political or doesn't come out of modern politics.

Actual violence has no attraction for me at all.

I had this spooky psychological thing about 'The Piano' before it began, which was how everybody was going to go nuts on the set. Because a film tends to set up the way people are going to behave.

I think feature film can be quite conservative, because you have to now get audiences to come out, and it's quite a hard thing to do. Of course, television can be conservative too.

I've had a lot of different responses to my films. I got a lot of support from 'The Piano,' the obvious one, but it feels like an ocean, with a lot going on - the goal is to keep alive.

I love it when actors come to you with a problem and you have to listen. You'd like them to just get on with it, but it often means that there's a problem with the script.

When I read Andrew Motion's biography, I wept. It's something about the purity of the story and how fresh it was because of the love letters Keats wrote.

So many actors are not open in front of the camera - they have a persona.

I think this is interesting, us human creatures are capable of love, and it's a very powerful emotion. It also can go awfully wrong.

What I have learned from my work up to now, is to try to be open, but also protect myself by not letting the good and the evil get too much importance.

I'm a much better filmmaker than painter. But studying it did make me visually acute and taught me lessons like being economic: Say something once and you don't have to say it again.

There is a different kind of vulnerability when a woman is directing

I can get very philosophical and ask the questions Keats was asking as a young guy. What are we here for? What's a soul? What's it all about? What is thinking about, imagination?

I think that the romantic impulse is in all of us and that sometimes we live it for a short time, but it's not part of a sensible way of living. It's a heroic path and it generally ends dangerously.