Jason Reitman Quotes

Yeah, I was born in Montreal and I go back to Vancouver and Toronto a lot, so I have a sense of being Canadian, and I was raised by two Canadians, and my wife is Canadian, so yeah, I feel it.

I am an obsessive flyer, myself.

Most people see a documentary about the meat industry and then they become a vegetarian for a week.

I think it's a mistake for young filmmakers to just buy digital equipment and shoot a feature. Make short films first, make your mistakes and learn from them.

Directing 'The Office' is kind of like someone going, 'Would you like to drive my Lamborghini?' And I'm like 'Yes, I would like to drive your Lamborghini. That sounds like fun.'

Comedy and horror are cousins; they're related. They both come from storytellers who want to specifically affect the audience and elicit specific reactions during the movie.

I'm a believer that people need to understand that filmmaking is not a perfect process for anybody. It is a process in which you find the film and the film finds you. And that is every film.

With each one of my films, I'm exploring one of my own issues and I try to expose myself a little in the film.

I don't know why I'm drawn to anti-heroes, but I certainly am.

Really, it's the director's job to disappear and allow the movie to just feel.

There are only so many movies you can direct. And yet there are movies that I want to make sure make it to the screen in as honest a way as possible.

And over the course of the last six years, as I've directed more features and commercials, I've become better at articulating exactly how I want the audience to feel.

I think, through comedy, sometimes we're allowed to discuss things that you'd never be able to talk about in a drama.

It’s funny, I can sit through the worst horror film ever made! But even a quite good romantic comedy.

I've always had an underdog perspective.

I'm too big a fan of rhythm and editing. I'd much rather my editing be brave than my shooting.

My writing voice is very much like 'Thank You for Smoking.' It's a guy's voice. It's very masculine.

I don't believe in director's cuts where you make things longer. The coolest thing was when the Coen brothers did a director's cut of 'Blood Simple,' and they made it shorter.

I grew up on movie sets, I'm comfortable on sets. A movie set is like a circus. I don't understand why moviemaking has to be such an insane environment.

Creating a wonderful drama is an art form, while comedy is just entertainment.

I want my audiences to be as open-minded as my characters.

Each one of my films is personal; each one of my films is emotionally autobiographical. And I like directors who do that.

Humanizing good people is kind of boring and I don't really see the value in it... humanizing tricky characters is exhilarating, and making audience films out of indie subjects excites me.

I find nice people kind of boring.

I think when you pay attention to the shots, you're aware of the fact that there's a director. Really, it's the director's job to disappear and allow the movie to just feel.

I'm really attracted to authors who take on really tricky material with a very open mind and take a subject matter that you wouldn't think would be a comedy.

'Juno' really changed things for me and I get a lot of screenplays come in now, but I like to self-generate and I like to kind of pursue my own ideas. And I think the more personal the better.

I'm not Michael Moore. I think Michael Moore wants to tell you how to think. He wants to give you answers. I make movies to raise my own personal questions and not to give answers.

When characters change on screen, it makes you feel better about yourself. You think, 'Oh I change too, I'm constantly becoming a better person.'

When I write a film, all I think about is where the thing ends and how to get the audience there.

I've been very, very lucky in my career, in my life - from day one. When aspiring directors say, 'What's your advice?' first I say, 'Be born the son of a famous director. It's invaluable.'

I went to college, I went pre-med, I thought I was going to be a doctor.

I'm a kind of private guy.

When it comes to casting, I've been so lucky. I've worked with unbelievable actors who make me look better than I am and take the written word and make it honest.

I always believed that you can make challenging films, but they should be fiscally responsible.

Being the son of a filmmaker, you are aware of a career as a director. You don't think of it as just movies, but as a life.

I don't want to make films that give you the answer. If there is a message to my films - and I hope there isn't - it's to be open-minded.

I have one of the original 'Ghostbusters' guns in my house.

Things like Facebook have made you feel as though you're connected to everybody. You've got a thousand friends on Facebook, but you don't actually talk to anybody. You're not close to anybody.

I'm not going to have a perfect career. It's better to be Billy Wilder and make lots of movies and have five or six great ones than to make so few movies that when you make a bad one it crushes you.

What I do feel is that 'Up in the Air' is the most indicative film of 2009. It is the portrait of 2009.

'Election' is a movie I'd give a leg to cross the director's name out and put mine in.

If someone else made 'Up in the Air' or 'Thank You For Smoking' or 'Juno,' I would have wanted to rip their head off. I need that same sort of passion for every project I take on.

Doesn't every generation feel like the one that's coming up behind them doesn't know how to grow up? I'm not sure if we're progressively getting worse or if your perspective shifts.

Being pregnant changes you as a human being and it gives you a whole lot of mixed feelings.

I want my movies to be audience experiences. As much as I like Michael Haneke, I'm not going to make a Haneke film. That's just not in my DNA.

I'm really specific in the way that I shoot. I've always had a very good sense of what I need in the editing room.

And I certainly like being on a plane, next to a stranger, having conversations that you'd never otherwise have. You're unplugged, your phone doesn't work, you're not online.

Discover how little you know about the people you know.

It's funny, I can sit through the worst horror film ever made but even a quite good romantic comedy can drive me nuts.