Daily Inspiration Quote by Neil Jordan

Neil Jordan’s line reads like a shrug, but it’s really a quiet indictment of how the movie business has re-trained itself to fear the middle. The irony is baked into the number: $40 million isn’t “small,” yet in a landscape dominated by $200 million franchise plays and bargain-basement indies, it’s become an orphaned budget tier. Jordan is pointing at the vanishing habitat where adult dramas, star-driven thrillers, and idiosyncratic prestige films used to live - movies big enough to look cinematic, but risky enough to be personal.

The specific intent is practical, almost weary: he’s describing a financing reality that constrains what kinds of stories can reach the screen. The subtext is sharper. “Extremely difficult” isn’t just about money; it’s about power shifting from directors and producers to corporate risk models and IP calculus. A $40 million film often can’t promise toys, sequels, or global four-quadrant clarity, but it’s too expensive to justify as a “passion project.” That squeeze forces filmmakers into a binary: either make something tiny and hope for awards, or bolt your craft onto a franchise machine.

Context matters here: Jordan came up in an era when mid-budget cinema could be culturally central and commercially plausible. His frustration hints at a broader cultural loss: fewer films designed for ambiguity, sensuality, or moral complexity - the very qualities that distinguish a director’s voice. The quote isn’t nostalgic; it’s diagnostic. When the industry can’t make “moderately expensive” movies, it’s not just economics. It’s a narrowing of ambition.