Quotes by Joshua Leonard

• I'm less interested in slasher, and go more for roles that can affect you on a personal level. I'm interested in human empathy in the movies I see, and in the ones I am a part of.
• We ended up with 19 hours of footage and had to narrow it down to an hour and a half. Our instructions were to film everything that came up, including the more mundane moments.
• The first thing I do when I read a part is see if I can identify emotionally with a character. If I make that connection, everything else is just working on knowing their life circumstances and manifesting those through practice and research.
• Sony could have $50 million and a sound stage and A-list actors and never make the same film. The constraints on this film became the essence of this film, became the power of this film.
• Pain is pain, joy is joy - you can't avoid bringing pieces of yourself into a role.
• Mike and Heather and I rapped once or twice in New York and then we all wound up on a train together on the way out to Maryland. I think it was about a month and a half from the time we got cast until the time we shot the thing.
• In horror, character development is often pushed aside in favor of the shock value. The best genre movies to me are movies like The Shining. You had a connection to the characters in that film.
• We hit a stride where all self-consciousness disappeared.
• I would love to direct some day. It's a good job for a control freak.
• I ultimately have faith though, that good films will find their audience.
• I think as long as there are folks on the fringe who want to make movies, the indie scene will still be around. I do think it's getting harder to get them seen though.
• Even in the realest American cinema that I see, there's still not that sense that this is reality. There's still that sense that you are watching a movie. And hopefully, if we did get our jobs right, that sense disappears when you watch this movie.
• Being behind a camera, in front of the camera, is my own little deconstructionist niche.
• Actors are such an insecure breed.
• I'm really proud of Blair Witch Project as a film, but as far as the cultural phenomenon of it - that was just weird luck.
• I've done almost 20 films and I still worry about not finding the next one.