Alexander Payne Quotes

A book suggests a whole world and story that I could have never thought of in a million years.

There is an audience out there for literate films - slower, more observant, more human films, and they deserve to be made.

You just never know when you're living in a golden age.

I never wanted money worries to slow me down or make me take a job I didn't want.

I don't want all of American cinema to be big cartoons that are just made to be digested by the entire world.

I mean, look, I love movies, not just the ones I make ... In fact, I don't like the movies I make very much.

If you have your movies so that everyone understands everything, I think that's probably not a very good movie.

In real life, I myself am kind of a rambling guy. I like to travel.

In a sense, 'Schmidt' is the most Omaha of my films. But have I gotten it right? I'm not sure. Did Fellini get Rome right? Did Ozu get Tokyo right?

If you're trying to recreate life, the life that you best know is the one you grew up with.

I think if you watch most of my films with the sound off, you could still tell what's going on.

Life mixes tones all the time.

In the moment of making films, I want to share my observations of life, not of other films.

Joe E. Lewis said, 'Money doesn't buy happiness but it calms the nerves.' And that is how I feel about a film being well-received.

I still have energy and some degree of youth, which is what a filmmaker needs.

I think a badly crafted, great idea for a new film with a ton of spelling mistakes is just 100 times better than a well-crafted stale script.

Acting is a lot easier than people think it is.

I want all of my films to belong to me.

I like voice-over in films, and most of my films have been voice-over films.

I think that Peter Jennings is the only decent one of the big three.

The best cinema is about ethics.

The hardest part of this whole movie-making endeavor is finding ideas.

I always wanted 'Sideways' to be like a great 1960s Italian film.

I definitely in filmmaking more and more find writing and directing a means to harvest material for editing. It's all about editing.

If you're not making epic, archetypal films on some level, I think you're wasting a great potential of cinema.

When I'm shooting, I don't care who the star is. I have an actor playing a part, and I'm serving the script, not serving anyone's career.

The kindest thing a director can do is look with open eyes at everything.

My flag is always flying. My shingle is always out. I'm always looking for movie ideas.

What is filmmaking but groping in the dark?

The biggest fear I have is to die with regrets, and of course that will come true.

I'm hoping one day I can make one really good film.

Somewhat dramatic things happen, and you don't even always notice them - that's what life is.

I like to think of film-making not just as an act of personal self-aggrandisement but rather as an act of public service.

I think cynicism is more enduring than sentimentality.

I don't feel despair because I am able to make the films I want to make, and that gives me hope.

When you watch a movie, you don't want to feel like a machine made it. You want to feel a soul.

I like action films, not exclusively, but I like Samurai films. I like Westerns. Not so much war pictures, but a few. I like kinetic cinema.

The actors are the greatest executors of tone in a film. They're the most important cinematic component.

You begin a film more with questions than with direct intentions. It's more of an exploration and discovery.

Jesuits encourage an intellectual rigor in a way that I like.

Each one of my movies becomes easier to get off the ground.

A pitfall of making a comedy with a studio-and it's also an American cultural thing-is that I get tired of being encouraged to go always for laughs.

The best actors are always the ones who've directed as well, as they understand all the problems you face.

As the years go by and I make more films, I am increasingly interested in capturing place as a vivid backdrop for my films.

Omaha, like Rome, is built on seven hills.

The most heinous shift in American films is that they reinforce good things like 'couples' and 'relationships.'

I'm attracted to short screenplays. Nobody really wants a film to be over two hours, or at least I don't.

You look at how many years you have left, and you start to think: 'How many more films do I have in me?'

I like actors who, when you see them on screen, you sense a person, not just an actor.