William Friedkin
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"William Friedkin" is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing The French Connection (film)/The French Connection in 1971 and The Exorcist (film)/The Exorcist in 1973; for the former, he won the Academy Award for Best Director. Some of his other films include Sorcerer (film)/Sorcerer, Cruising (film)/Cruising, To Live and Die in L.A. (film)/To Live and Die in L.A., Jade (film)/Jade, Rules of Engagement (film)/Rules of Engagement, The Hunted (2003 film)/The Hunted, Bug (2006 film)/Bug, and Killer Joe (film)/Killer Joe.

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I really think that sex always looks kind of funny in a movie.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel pressed and tense almost every day of my life about something or other. And I think it's the one thing, as I look into people's eyes, that I think I share with almost everybody.

The informing idea of what you want to say and do, that's what will take you from film school to professional -- the idea. That's what is original to you.

To me, film right now is dormant. It's a sleeping giant. It's the plaything of corporations. The people who determine what American film is today are no different from high rollers who go to Las Vegas. They just want to take all the money and put it on one big number and roll the dice on that number and if it craps out, next number. Next case.

I tend to be attracted to characters who are up against a wall with very few alternatives. And the film then becomes an examination of how they cope with very few options. And that's, I guess, what interests me in terms of human behavior.

Violence is not funny.

The first work of the director is to set a mood so that the actor's work can take place, so that the actor can create. And in order to do that, you have to communicate, communicate with the actors. And direction is about communication on all levels.

Technique is of less interest than character and story.