Film Director Quotes

I was always annoyed by too much explaining.

There's something about the first time an actor runs the material over his or her face you know when they kind of run it through their eyes and you see the thing and there is little imperfections in it and not every line is delivered perfectly, and it doesn't have that mechanical feeling.

Why am I a star? It can't be because of looks.

I guess any movie actor can become a role model for audiences out there who enjoy him.

I always thought what an interesting idea because almost everybody's fascinated by the perpetrator of a crime; very few people study what happens to people for the rest of their lives, and how it affects not only that particular character but other characters around him as well.

Children teach you that you can still be humbled by life, that you learn something new all the time. That's the secret to life, really: never stop learning. It's the secret to career. I'm still working because I learn something new all the time. It's the secret to relationships. Never think you've got it all.

Even people on the liberal side are starting to worry about going off a fiscal cliff.

The only black battalion on Iwo Jima was a small munitions supply unit that came to the beach.

I like a drama.

Extremism is so easy. You've got your position, and that's it. It doesn't take much thought. And when you go far enough to the right you meet the same idiots coming around from the left.

I'd always tried to resist playing the supervirility thing. I liked showing the vulnerability of age.

Acting gets into your blood, after so many years, and I just always like revisiting it. It's fun to meet new people and watch them coming along, at different stages of their careers.

Pay attention to the work you want to do and everything'll work out fine. If you're in it for the ego, you might be successful but at a limited level.

In school, I could hear the leaves rustle and go on a journey.

I've always told my son Scott the same thing: Don't rush into anything, because there's gonna be a lot of fish in the sea. You can be one of the people that's lucky enough not to become a loser two and three and four times over like people do, just by being a little more patient.

After directing awhile, you get an instinct about it, but you have to be able to trust your own feelings. Invariably, two-thirds of the way through a film, you say, "Jeezus, is this a pile of crap! What did I ever see in it in the first place?" You have to shut off your brain and forge ahead, because by that time you're getting so brainwashed. Once I commit myself to a film I commit myself to that ending, whatever the motivations and conclusions are.

The innocence of childhood is like the innocence of a lot of animals.

You change as the years go by. The more knowledge you get, the more things change in your life and circumstances change.

I mean, I've always been a libertarian. Leave everybody alone. Let everybody else do what they want. Just stay out of everybody else's hair.

When I used to be a contract player in 1954 at Universal, I wasn't getting good roles. I was getting one-liners, and then I'd be gone. But I'd hang around; I'd watch guys. And when I had days off, which was most days, I'd go down and watch other sets while they were shooting. Watch Joan Crawford or whomever. Just watch how they worked and how the director handled them. I didn't know anything about making movies, and there's a lot to learn.

Hillary Clinton has made a lot of dough out of being a politician. I gave up dough to be a politician. I'm sure that Ronald Reagan gave up dough to be a politician.

Maybe I`m getting to the age when I`m starting to be senile or nostalgic or both, but people are so angry now. You used to be able to disagree with people and still be friends. Now you hear these talk shows, and everyone who believes differently from you is a moron and an idiot - both on the Right and the Left.

Romney and Ryan would do a much better job running the country, and that's what everybody needs to know.

When I do a picture and it's 90% black, like 'Bird,' I use 90% black people.

I hate to see anybody sink. I hate to see anybody lose their dream, lose their home, something like that.

What Trump is onto is, he's just saying what's on his mind. And sometimes it's not so good. And sometimes it's... I mean, I can understand where he's coming from, but I don't always agree with it.

I don't write. I usually look for material by other people. Sometimes I change things or adapt things but I don't write from scratch. I wish I had that ability.

If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster.

Being comfortable is over-rated.

I love big business!

I found out that a lot of my liberal friends weren't liberal because they weren't liberal about approaching anybody else's ideas, or at least standing for it. They started getting really animalistic about, "I can't even associate with this guy. He's stupid. He's an idiot."

Once a man has some money, peace begins to sound good to him.

If you read any of the biographies on J. Edgar Hoover, you find that they contradict each other more than they agree. Often times, they're often told from a political perspective.

Movies are fun, but they are no cure for cancer.

Acting to me is a very organic art form and you just go and do it. And I like to direct the same way that I like to be directed. Let me bring in what I want to bring in, and if something's wrong, just tell me about it and I'll make some corrections or adjustments. And that's what I do.

I'm a movie maker, but I have the same feelings as the average guy out there.

When you hang a man, you better look at him.

There's a rebel lying deep in my soul. Anytime anybody tells me the trend is such and such, I go the opposite direction. I hate the idea of trends. I hate imitation; I have a reverence for individuality.

There are so many parallels in society today [with era of J. Edgar Hoover ] that you can use, whether it's the head of a studio or the head of an organization, a major newspaper, a major factory or company, of people who stay too long, maybe, and overstay their usefulness.

At certain points if your life, you like doing more. I'm not sure what causes it or for what reasons; you just do it.

If you feel like you've got something to offer you should do it while the iron's hot.

I don't look at my life too much. I'm always looking forward, not backward.

It must be the Brit in me, because I like animals.

I take vitamins daily, but just the bare essentials not what you'd call supplements. I try to stick to a vegan diet heavy on fruit, vegetables, tofu, and other soy products.

I was an Eisenhower Republican when I started out at 21 because he promised to get us out of the Korean War.

Tomorrow is promised to no one.

Everybody has certain things they wish they hadn't done in life. They wish they hadn't kicked their dog when they were ten or something. There are many things you can go back and have regrets about. I don't like doing that. But by the same token I do agree that when you get to a certain stage in life, you change. And you should change.

My grandfather lived to be late 90s on one side and on the other side, 70s or something. And my father died young, at 63. But he didn't take very good care of himself.

Nobody looks like they did when they were 20, so why not take advantage of the fact that you're changing, emotionally as well as physically?

When I'm a director, I look at myself the actor as a completely different person. It's somebody else up there, an actor playing a role. I keep myself out of it.

I'm a mentor to anybody who's interested.

I like working. That's when I'm feeling my best. And the people around me know that. My wife knows that.

Everybody thinks making films back to back is a big deal but they did it all the time in the old days.

If a person doesn't change, there's something really wrong with him.

On 'Mystic River,' I had to cut my salary and everyone else's to get it made.

My wife and I are both Libertarian; she was a Democrat and I was a Republican, and we both met in the middle somewhere.

We don't even know who's in the Academy.

I've taken advantage of a few breaks that came along and moved along with them.

Governor Romney has a great business background. He is extremely well educated. He has several degrees from Harvard, including, you know, business and including a law degree.

The cruelty of nature is you have to work out harder when you get older ... It should be the other way around: Work out hard when you're a kid you should be able to coast when you get older. But unfortunately you have to do more to stay in the same position.