Gavin Hood
Gavin Hood
Gavin Hoodis a South African filmmaker, screenwriter, producer and actor, best known for writing and directing Tsotsi, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He also directed the films X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Ender's Game...
NationalitySouth African
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth12 May 1963
african deal fact matter pressure sounds south
You don't want to make a big deal out of it because it sounds indulgent. But the fact of the matter is that, for all South African filmmakers, because we don't make a lot of films, you feel an unrealistic pressure that your film has to say so much and has to be about everything in South Africa.
african allowed exciting filmmakers hope industry south stories struggles whatever
One of the struggles and one of the exciting things for South African filmmakers is: What stories are we allowed to tell? I hope for the industry that more and more, it will tell whatever stories it likes.
although baby becomes ghetto hides intimate kid quickly seems
Although it seems to be a ghetto movie, it very quickly becomes a much more intimate story, the story of this young, teenage, lost, crazy, out-of-control kid and a baby that he hides from his friends.
deep emotions fellow heart human stories thank
I want to thank my fellow nominees, who I've become deep friends with. We may have foreign-language films, but our stories are the same as your stories. They're about the human heart and emotion.
anyone buys rough
It's a rough mess, so anyone who buys it is getting a poor-quality version.
emotions heart human stories
Our stories are the same as your stories. They're about the human heart and emotion.
frozen people seen time
I was frozen in my seat. It was the first time I had ever seen people like me on the screen.
hold proud tells
I feel very, very proud to hold this (Oscar) because it tells me, and all of us at home, that we can do it.
cape excited
We are excited to be in Cape Town.
laughing hug paradise
Hany Abu-Assad was sitting next to me, and his film 'Paradise Now' had won the Golden Globe. He said to me at the Globes, 'Paradise now, talk to you later.' [laughs] I gave him a big hug for that.
war reality people
And for the people who promote drones as the answer to everything, there is a danger from being distanced from the reality of the ugly mess of war.
scripts now-and-then
One reads many scripts, and some of them are good and some of them are not, but every now and then, one really grabs you. You simply can't put it down.
mean thinking years
I think if you read the story as bad guy turns good guy, then clearly it is a cliché. But my experience, when I spent three years working with young people in the townships on issues principally around HIV/AIDS, is that people are usually neither entirely good or bad. They are usually variations of both. Just because someone is a carjacker doesn't mean they are a ruthless cold-blooded murderer.
jobs race stories
I am a story-teller working with a craft. My job is to use my craft - which is a different thing to my race - and tell a story well.