50 Noah Hawley Quotes for You to Enjoy

Noah Hawley

American Producer

Born: 1967

Fargo Good Me People Think You

Related authors: Aaron Sorkin David O. Selznick Gene Roddenberry Jimmy Iovine Robert Wise Samuel Goldwyn Shonda Rhimes Suge Knight

The most dangerous thing, when you have a serious mental illness, is convincing yourself that you don't have it. And you see it all the time. People get on medication, and they feel better, and they stop taking it. And some flirt with unreality on some levels. But it feels so convincing to them that it feels real. Noah Hawley

Time You Yourself People Dangerous Better Dangerous Thing See Some Mental Mental Illness Unreality Taking Feel Feels Most Real Time People Get Stop Them Convincing Flirt Illness Serious Thing Levels Medication

The first dumb idea was to do it at all - to take 'Fargo,' this beloved classic, and turn it into a television show. The second dumb idea, when you do it and it works, was to throw everything out and start again. Noah Hawley

You First Everything Television Television Show Out Classic Throw Take Idea Dumb Again Turn Fargo Show Works Start Second Beloved

The great thing about making an ensemble show is it becomes modular. It might work on the page to cut from one scene to another, but on the screen, it's more powerful to take that second scene and move it first or move it later. Noah Hawley

The '50s and the '70s are sort of similar in that they're both times of major paranoia in America. Noah Hawley

Paranoia Similar Both Major Sort Times America

I pitched the idea to FX that there's this larger 'Fargo' universe where there's true crime in the upper Midwest, and I can tell stories from any era of that. Maybe they connect to the first season or the movie, or maybe they don't. It's just a style of storytelling. We're under the auspices of being a true story that isn't true. Noah Hawley

Crime First Style Universe Tell True Idea True Story Era Upper Any Maybe Just Being Where Movie Stories Story Storytelling Midwest Fargo Connect Season Larger

I drove around New York when we did the upfronts and when we premiered 'Fargo,' and they crocheted a sweater for a double-decker bus and drove it around. Noah Hawley

Drove New Around Did York New York Bus Sweater Fargo

There is a difference between movie actors and TV acting, especially with movie stars, which is they know their face is 20 feet high on the screen. They know they don't have to do much. Noah Hawley

Face Stars TV High Between Feet Know Difference Screen Movie Movie Actors Which Movie Stars Much Acting Actor

There is the moral spectrum in 'Fargo,' and you see it in other Coen brothers movies, where you have a very good character on one end and a very bad character on the other. Noah Hawley

Good Character You Other Bad Moral Bad Character See Brothers End Very Where Movies Fargo Good Character Coen Spectrum

I remain a huge 'Game of Thrones' fan. Noah Hawley

Game Remain Huge Fan Game Of Thrones

There's a sense you get from the Coens' work, like 'No Country for Old Men,' where you put these characters in situations, and you just let this painful amount of time take place. Part of the tension is just how long it takes to get out of that scene. Noah Hawley

Work Time You Old Men Long Country Sense Out Characters No Country Scene Take Part Put Takes Tension Like How Get Situations Just Where Place Old Men Painful Amount

I did some feature work, then tried TV. I was always very aware that the only power that you have is the power of options. If the film industry dries up, then you focus on the TV or the books. For me, it was always about what story do I want to tell next? Noah Hawley

Work Me You Focus Power Books Tell TV Tried Some About Only Feature Industry Always Up Very Options Did Want Story Then Next Film Aware Film Industry

The thing with making your art your business is: It's a business. You can't sit around waiting for the muse, especially when you run a show, and you're in production, and an outline is due, a script is due, and a reshoot is due. No. You look at the calendar, and you go, 'OK. I can write from 4 to 6.' So you write. Noah Hawley

The idea was always going to be that each year is a stand-alone story, which did make it easier on some level. It also requires the network to have the creative imagination to say, 'This is also 'Fargo,' you know what I mean? Noah Hawley

'Fargo' becomes a metaphor for a type of true crime case where truth is stranger than fiction. So, there's no reason that there isn't another 10-hour true crime story that could be told in this region. Noah Hawley

Truth Truth Is Crime Type Case No Reason Could True Another Becomes Metaphor Than Where Fiction Story Region Fargo Stranger Reason

Obviously, when you do something with drama and comedy in it - and by that, I mean a scene that has drama and comedy in it - you know the minute you introduce music, you're either scoring the drama or you're scoring the comedy, and therefore the scene becomes either dramatic or comedic. Noah Hawley

Music You Comedy Drama Dramatic Introduce Minute Something Scene Know Comedic Obviously Becomes Scoring Either Mean Therefore

Having written for film and television, I had little interest in turning 'The Good Father' into a Hollywood thriller. I was writing a novel, and novels demand that the writer goes deeper, both emotionally and thematically. Noah Hawley

Good Writing Father Television Having Thriller Both Writer Had Emotionally Written Demand Goes Interest Little Hollywood Turning Novel Novels Film Good Father Deeper Film And Television

I think the age of the modern media campaign has created a new icon, the celebrity-in-chief. Political elections have become wars fought by candidates with opposing values. Noah Hawley

Age Political Values Become Opposing Think New Campaign Modern Candidates Icon Created Elections Wars Fought Media

If there's one thing that television doesn't really do, and has never really done, is to tell a surreal story. Noah Hawley

Television Tell One Thing Never Surreal Done Story Really Thing

I try to approach the film medium as a novelist and the novel medium as a filmmaker on some level. It's that question: Do we think in pictures, or do we think in language? And the novelist believes one thing, and the filmmaker believes another thing - and I'm fascinated by that balance. Noah Hawley

Balance Try Language Think Medium Approach One Thing Some Pictures Another Question Fascinated Novel Novelist Film Believes Thing Level Filmmaker

Noah Hawley Quotes

No more Noah Hawley quotes