Michel Ocelot Quotes

For me, the stereoscopic imagery was a new game to play with. Surprisingly enough, it's also a return to tradition. I'm back with paper-looking puppets moving about in several layers of theatrical backgrounds.

I'm at peace with myself. My film just may please audiences. At any rate, it's already a great prize to be part of just 16 films among all of the world cinema out there. I'm tranquil and satisfied.

I'd never make a film that I am not passionate about. My whole life, I've only made the films I wanted to make, even when I had limited means.

Digital is expensive, from the computers to the professional software to the technicians, but digital helps me to create more beautiful images in less time.

If I need something, I just draw it, have a few friends make it move, and it exists. I enjoy this strange power. I try to be a good sorcerer, though.

I'm a sorcerer because I start with nothing, and then, eventually, there is something. And I touch you, I move you, I make you laugh or cry, and you believe in what's happening on the screen, although I always show it's invented.

Fairy tales have a hidden power, and their appeal never ends. They're the best way to get messages across.

I never seem to be able to sell my films correctly in the U.S. The U.S. defends itself on its own turf.

I'm never really nervous because I've done the maximum; now it's up to the audience to do its job.

The quality and success of Disney was actually bad for us animators because everyone on the planet thought that animation was only for kids and only in a certain domain. The big film festivals never thought much about animated films.

The film industry needs to find a way to bring audiences to movie theaters. It's more of a technical trick than a revolution.

Fairy tales are my natural language. I feel at ease telling fairy tales like a fish feels in water. I am totally free.

I like to make people happy, and with fairy tales, I can say anything I want to, but in an agreeable way.

I've never made films for children. That's why children like my films. Nobody wants to be treated as a baby.

My producers give me total freedom. No one asks me for anything; they just tell me to make a good film, and that's what I do.

Sometimes I dream that I'm working; that's awful. When you awaken after a big, surprising dream, you feel it's very interesting. When you sit and write it down, you realize it's a very poor script. But I may find ideas while dozing.

No matter what the level of funding or success may be, there's always money missing, and you still want to have a gorgeous image, an endless cast and a flawless rendering.

I've always felt that I've made films, period. I wanted to leave the "ghetto." And here I am, I'm out.

I think that stereoscopic 3D will have to continue to develop. It's still quite archaic because of the glasses you have to wear.

I won't tell you how many hours a day I work because you wouldn't believe it. But don't worry; I am in bed at 11 p.m., sleep well and get up early, without an alarm clock.

I do my films the best as I can, period. I always hope that, gradually, my honest work will reach Americans.

My inspiration is my life, what I see happening around me. It can be history and, quite often, plain traditional fairy tales. But I never adapt; I nourish myself with old stories, and then create my own tales.

I lost so much energy in taxis, planes, hotels, phone calls and interpreters. Now, with the help from my little successes, I do everything in the same place with everyone around me. That's how a good job gets done.

All of my films are based on personal experiences and beliefs. Many of my heroes are my spokespeople - and some are not!

Before my commercial success, I had difficulty doing what I wanted, but my sincere short films always won prizes in festivals. So I was ready for larger successes.

One gets used to success very quickly. The surprise was how deep and enduringly I was touching people, in such different places and throughout generations.

Kids in different countries know my movies by heart because they've seen them so many times. And wonderful returns never stop.

France can compete with the Hollywood studios in terms of animation savoir-faire, but not in terms of box-office figures. France is a small country, and the Americans are the masters of the world - for cinema, it's true.

People all over the world feed upon U.S. cinema and don't know about their own.