Kathryn Bigelow - biography

“My movement from painting to film was a very conscious one.”

“Whereas painting is a more rarefied art form, with a limited audience, I recognized film as this extraordinary social tool that could reach tremendous numbers of people.”

“Right now, there’s the illusion of order and civilization, but there’s a tremendous amount of economic tension in this country and the educational system is constantly eroding.”

“When he brought it to me four years ago, Rodney King had just arrived, I was involved in the clean-up of L.A.  and I guess it was part of my experience.”

“I like high impact movies.”

“If there’s specific resistance to women making movies, I just choose to ignore that as an obstacle for two reasons: I can’t change my gender, and I refuse to stop making movies.”

“Our film examines the heroism, courage and prowess of the Soviet submarine force in ways never seen before.”

“When I made my first film, I didn’t think of it as directing, so it wasn’t like I set out to become a director.”

“When James Cameron brought me the script, which I developed with both Cameron and Jay Cocks, I wanted to make it a thriller, an action film, but with a conscience, and I found that it had elements of social realism.”

“On the other hand, I believe there’s hope, because the breakdown and the repair are happening simultaneously.”

“I did a pilot for Anything But Love in 1988 that didn’t sell.”

“The Communist regime didn’t consider this to be a shining moment in history and assigned no heroism to it.  They classified it as merely an accident.”

“One of the elements in the film that really fascinated me was not to look at the world in bi-polar terms of us vs them or east vs west, which was a by-product of the Cold War.”

“There should be more women directing; I think there’s just not the awareness that it’s really possible.”

“You never think the universe will reward your first choice - it just doesn’t work like that.”

“Character and emotionality don’t always have to be relegated to quieter, more simple constructs.”

“I don’t believe in censorship in any form.”

“I don’t want to be made pacified or made comfortable.  I like stuff that gets your adrenaline going.”

“I think violence in a cinematic context can be, if handled in a certain way, very seductive.”

“One should make morals judgements for oneself.”

“Something becomes personal when it deviates from the norm.”

“The urge to purge the material I come up with is, I guess, an ongoing process.”

Kathryn Bigelow directed the following films:
The Loveless (1982)
Near Dark (1987)
Blue Steel (1989)
Point Break (1991)
Strange Days (1995)
The Weight of Water (2000)
K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
The Hurt Locker (2008)


Kathryn Bigelow contributed to the screenplay for the following films:
The Loveless (1982)
Near Dark (1987)
Blue Steel (1989)