Rob Marshall Quotations

As a director, you should choose a project that will educate you and enrich your life, because you're going to be doing it for two years.

The hardest part about directing is getting everyone on the same page.

The thing about movie musicals is that there have been some brilliant ones, but when they're bad, they're really bad - big white elephants.

Maybe it took a little time, or we're a little late, but finally we're recognizing that international stars are fantastic. They're the greatest actors in the world, and few people know that.

I'd much rather fail than do something like 'The Chorus Line' movie, sanitized and Hollywoodized.

Maybe because I come from choreography, I've always felt that there's something about action films that made it very natural for me to go that way. It's story through movement.

It has been an extraordinary experience. The film is like a child to me. It has grown up and it's time to let it go. It's for you, not us.

I think there are many misperceptions about what geisha are, especially in the West,

I saw many actors from around the world: It was so obvious that this was the one woman on Earth who could play this role,

We ended up building a little Japan with cobblestone streets, bridges, a river, period buildings and antique props in Ventura, ... For the final scenes, we filmed in Kyoto temples that had never allowed filming before. But all throughout, we have tried to pay great respect to Japanese culture. I found the story very daunting to tell, as an American. I especially wanted to honor the profession because a lot of people in the West still don't know what geishas really are. The challenge for me was to bring a beautiful fable to life, to lift the veil on the beauty, joy and heartbreak of being a geisha.

This story lives in a very specific world - and yet the underlying scene of the triumph of the human spirit against all odds connects to any culture.

We wanted to premiere the movie here because it is a love story, and it also a love story about Japan,

It was very scary to take on a novel that was so loved by so many.

It was wonderful and scary at the same time,

I wanted a fictional impression of a world as opposed to a documentary vision, which gave me the license to break rules,

It wasn't just about mastering English. It was about shading, subtext and subtlety - all the things that make a great actor.

I never intended to do this movie as a documentary-style version of the novel. It really is a fable.

great beauty, was a great dancer and had incredible spirit. There was no question at all when I met her.

The truth is I was looking for something different.

I could never have been an accountant. I got a D in math.

I've never looked at a tax return without immediately losing consciousness.

It was actually the opposite of what a director once said to me. He said, 'Remember, everyone is here to serve you.' And as he walked away, I thought to myself, 'It's exactly the opposite: I'm here to serve everyone.

My great joy in working on anything is stepping out in front of the camera and working with the actors.

When you're doing an action set piece, it's very similar to choreography in a way because it's shot that way. It's meticulous how it's rehearsed. I mean, you have no idea.