Fernando Meirelles Quotes on Movies (9 Quotes)

I did want to expose the pharmaceutical industry a bit, ... The industry promotes itself very well. I think the film helps people see it in a different way, not through its press releases.

This is the part that I like most, in the process, is to edit and try to find (the story). Sometimes you think you have a film, and then you change something and it becomes different. It's a wonderful job. Because it surprises you.

That little village that's raided in the film, it's just lost in the desert. There's nothing there. We came in and turned it into a big operation, like an al-Qaida training camp in the middle of the desert.

She told me, 'It's just sex,' ... She flew to London to let me know how interested she was in the part. She knew so much more about Tessa than I did. I saw several other actresses, but she was the one who inspired me. It would be easy to play Tessa as a caricature, but there's a humanity in this character.

The actors feel very free. The actor, he doesn't need to think about where the camera is, he just has to focus on what he's doing and forget the camera. The camera is never in the perfect position, and I think this is what keeps this feeling of reality. The frame is not perfect.

This plot in this film is based on this particular case in Nigeria -- but it's very usual to test drugs in Africa because it's less expensive for big companies, ... City of God.

Of Dunces, ... I felt that I wouldn't know how to do that film. It's very American ... and I thought I could spoil a good script.

But then, watching the whole film, it was like hearing my own voice - like the director preaching to the audience. So I started to cut and in the end, I think it became more of a love story.

When we finished filming I had a political drama, a love story and a documentary. But the love story was so strong I decided to make it the axis of the film.