[on "ruining" footage to create the look of time-ravaged 1920s
newsreels] "The lack of perfection, that's the hardest quality of all,
because you're fighting your instincts. You're trained to want to do
things perfectly."
[commenting on digital filming] The organics aren't the same. The interpretive levels suffer. Digital is another form of recording an image, but it won't replace thinking.
I wouldn't say my style is naturalistic. I would say it's reconstructed reality that embellishes what is already there.
About Manhattan (1979): Woody and I both see New York as a black and white town, and I love shooting wide-screen anamorphic. Put the two together and look in the right direction, and you get the romantic reality of Manhattan.
You can make the same thing ugly or beautiful, just by choosing what you shoot.
[on his retirement] "I got tired of trying to get actors out of trailers, and standing in the rain."