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Quotes by Director
"One of the joys of going to the movies was that it was trashy, and we should never lose that."
13
"When I began to think about the head of the family, the storyteller, the rise of television which became the new storyteller, the break-up of the American family as an idea and then Avalon came."
13
"Anybody who informs on other people is doing something disturbing and even disgusting."
13
"I'm now beginning to feel that the pessimistic vision is not for the movies."
13
"I made over forty Westerns. I used to lie awake nights trying to think up new ways of getting on and off a horse."
13
"On the one hand, young theatre directors were coming to television theatre, because they wanted to get closer to the cinema, despite having studied and worked for the theatre."
13
"It was just the thrill of a lifetime. Brando and Hackman were two of my heroes."
13
"I have ten commandments. The first nine are, thou shalt not bore. The tenth is, thou shalt have right of final cut."
13
"What I learned about stammering was that, when as a young child you lose the confidence of anyone who wants to listen to you, you lose confidence in your voice and the right to speech. And a lot of the therapy was saying, 'You have a right to be heard.'"
13
"Sometimes you have to lie. One often has to distort a thing to catch its true spirit."
13
"I think if you look at the themes that are presented in the film, some are inherently social, and I think that any film which deals with the family is dealing with the smallest social unit in our society - and in a sense it is a question of scope."
13
"I think there are a lot more relationship scenes in my movies that people tend to overlook. A lot of scenes really feel real and are about the characters."
13
"Every year or so, I try to do something; it keeps me refreshed as to what's going on in front of the lens, and I understand what the actor is going through."
13
"The very reasons sometimes that you make a film are the reasons for its failure."
13
"Because I found myself telling the story of his family to people without the visual aids that I was able to employ by filming them eventually. But I very much knew exactly what I was going to do."
13
"I thought his performance was absolutely wonderful and had said so, but he seemed, as actors quite often are when they first see.something, to be disappointed. I think he expected more from the film and himself."
13
"There was a darkness, a melancholy, that people had trouble accepting. Maybe now, it would work better."
13
"Oh yeah, I believe in God. I think there's much more evidence that there is a God than that there isn't. I don't believe that Mother Theresa and Hitler go to the same place."
13
"In a movie you have all these logistical problems; all these practical problems. But you're also going to have people come who can do things that you can't do, and you get to direct their talents."
13
"Rock Hudson was not an educated man, but that very beautiful body of his was putty in my hands."
13
"It's more like can I build a group of characters and can I tell some universal truths that feel real and aren't formulaic in the spirit of filmmakers gone by who've told American stories that were personal and universal as well."
13
"All directors are storytellers, so the motivation was to tell the story I wanted to tell. That's what I love."
13
"I sometimes make pictures which are not up to my standard, but then it can only be said of a mediocrity that all his work is up to his standard."
13
"But I really am very active in the choice of the line producer with the producer of record and the distributing company, because I've had some terrible, terrible experiences with some line producers, particularly in cable."
13
"Trusting your individual uniqueness challenges you to lay yourself open."
13
"I wanted to make Canadian films, and I ended up making American films."
13
"I worked at a local television station and I got a chance to direct and do all those things - worked kiddie shows, Ranger House show with the hand puppets and things like that."
13
"Quite a few operas are still being commissioned around the world, although nothing apart from audience popularity can ensure more than a few performances."
13
"I have no spy stories to tell, because I saw no spies. Nor did I understand, at that time, any opposition between American and Russian national interest."
13
"I wouldn't say I'm a very controlling person. For instance, when I talk to the actors, I don't tell them exactly what I want because I want them to surprise me. I even encourage them to change some of the verses of the script if they need to."
13
"These films however, have ambiguity built into them, because it's too easy in film to make a strident work of propaganda or advertising, which are really the same thing anyway, meaning the message is unmistakable."
13
"I think it's too easy often to find a villain out of the headlines and to then repeat that villainy again and again and again. You know, traditionally, America has always looked to scapegoat someone as the boogie man."
13
"Consciousness is the glory of creation."
13
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