I don't have a family. I'm not planning one. I don't have to support anyone but me and my dog.
— Sean Baker
I would like to make sure I'm not homeless.
Cinema is always evolving.
It feels dangerous when people say, 'Oh, Sean Baker focuses on marginalised people.' And offensive. As if I'm standing there with my planner thinking, 'OK, where's the next marginalised group I can make a movie about?'
Most of the characters in 'The Little Rascals' were living in poverty, but they decided to focus on the joy of being a kid: the humor, the heart, the resilience.
I'm seen as a little risky to the industry, I think. All my favorite directors are.
I cannot stand Hollywood child performances. It just reeks of artifice, and it's weird that, for some reason, Hollywood feels they have to make their child characters smarter than adults, and suddenly kids have the vocabulary of a college grad.
I'm always looking for authenticity in my films. They're based in realism.
'Tangerine' was less than half the budget of 'Starlet,' and 'Starlet' was already a microbudget film. A director always wants more time, and we had a limited amount of resources.
With a lot of these social realist films, the first thing you do is drain the color.
I've fallen in love with Los Angeles, and I love to explore it myself.
There are characteristics of Central Florida you don't see anywhere else. It's quite beautiful.
A movie will live or die with your casting.
Somebody who doesn't understand my directing style could be pretty taken aback by it if I start going off the schedule and focusing on something because I'm inspired in the moment.
I'm not really the type to jump into a $20 million film just to do it.
The minute you're laughing, some people will say you're laughing at people.
I went to NYU thinking I was going to make a 'Die Hard' sequel, or maybe action and genre films for the studios, but I ended up falling in love with personal cinema.
I think I'm my own worst enemy.
When you see bad acting, that's usually what it is - they're not listening to the other characters. It's always hard with first-time actors to get them in that moment where they are really listening to the other characters and reacting to the other characters.
If you look over the history of cinema, changes happen when directors embrace new tools and technology and think outside the box.
All I know is this: The reason that I've gotten attention from this industry is that I just kept making films until they paid attention.
I have been very inspired and influenced by 'The Little Rascals' my entire career.
I don't see myself as a short-film director, and I'm not a commercial director.
A lot of the LGBTQ community accepted 'Tangerine,' which was something we worked really hard to achieve.
I'm fine with a title that's open to interpretation.
Many trans women of color come from poverty and are forced to live on the streets. Their families have shunned them, and their remaining family are the friends they've come to rely on.
I come from the school of thought that feels that if you can shoot film, you should shoot film.
If I'm telling an L.A. story, I want to tell a fresh L.A. story and show places that haven't been shown before.
Like with 'Starlet,' we intentionally did not look at 'Boogie Nights' before making 'Starlet,' and I should have. Because there are one or two scenes that come too close and it looks almost like - because it's about the same industry, and you're going to be covering certain subjects.
I definitely learned a lot about how to be more communicative with my crews.
I have a feeling that I might even disappoint some people by staying in this two to three million range and continuing to make character-driven stories.
I had never even heard of the term 'hidden homeless' before... It's not just Orlando and Kissimmee. It's a national issue; it's a national problem.
We're living in an age of the think piece.
I have friends who are trans advocates, and they were upset that Jared Leto played a trans person.
I'm not looking to get rich.
I want my films to be different, to use different techniques, not just make a calling card film.
I've told my agent to push the idea of me as a director for hire off the table. Otherwise, we're wasting people's time.
Nobody is going to just come and give you money unless you've proven yourself, especially if you're doing something that is unconventional or unorthodox and outside the way the industry thinks.
Everyone's asking if I've been offered a superhero movie, and no, I definitely have not.
If more stories are told about marginalized communities, subcultures, and minorities, the less marginalized they will be.
Because I'm a dramatist, I'm allowed to take liberties, but I want my films to be based in truth, and it's very important to me that the community we're focusing on is happy with the film. From an ethical point of view, that's everything.
I spend a lot of time on my phone, so I have two Mophie backups myself.
I'm actually very critical of digital cinema.
Film is the only art form where we feel we have to title our stuff literally. Musicians don't have to title their songs literally. It can be more about what's conjured up when you think of a word.
My way of directing is definitely unorthodox, definitely unconventional.
Kids are kids. They still need handholding. No matter how trained they are, they need to be told what to do. They need to learn lines and understand blocking. You can't just say, 'I want you to walk from here to there and deliver your line.'
When you're a child, the colors are brighter, sounds are louder and whatever.
As long as I can pay rent, that's all I care about.
I'm from outside most of these worlds I'm focusing on, and I feel there's an ethical approach to making these kinds of films. My biggest fear is that if you paint your characters in, you could be doing them wrong.
Most filmmakers, if not all, come from a place of privilege, if only because of the expense.
