Elia Kazan Quotes
Top 79 wise famous quotes and sayings by Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan Famous Quotes & Sayings
Discover top inspirational quotes from Elia Kazan on Wise Famous Quotes.
I would rather do what I did than crawl in front of a ritualistic Left and lie the way those other comrades did betray my own soul.
The only guy who was at all helpful as a producer was Sam Spiegel with On the Waterfront. He's one of the few who even knows what he's doing.
I'm very pro-America, but I feel it necessary to keep in touch with Europe to maintain a perspective.
Whatever hysteria exists is inflamed by mystery, suspicion and secrecy. Hard and exact facts will cool it.
I gave my life to the Group Theatre, because in it I'm building something for myself. What I build, I am.
The world was like a huge red carpet out ahead of me to be walked on. And it stretched on and on, no end.
I've lost many of my best friends ... I'm going to satisfy myself now, not the critics, not even my friends.
The physical life of the scene is determined by whether the set squeezes people together or whether the set has an escape place in it.
To be a member of the Communist Party is to have a taste of the police state. It is a diluted taste but is bitter and unforgettable.
The thing about Brando was that I'd make these directions, and he'd walk away. He'd heard enough ... to get the machine going.
When you know what an actor has, you can reach in and arouse it. If you don't know what he has, you don't know what the hell is going on.
I was born in Turkey in an extremely oppressive climate at the time of pogroms, massacres, really. An immigrant appreciates the freedom more.
I like directors who come on the set and create something that's a little dangerous, difficult or unusual.
The real challenge is not simply to survive. Hell, anyone can do that. It's to survive as yourself, undiminished.
The camera is more than a recorder, it's a microscope. It penetrates, it goes into people and you see their most private and concealed thoughts.
For years after I resigned, I was still faithful to their way of thinking. But not in the American Communists.
I truly believe that all power corrupts. Such is probably the thinking behind every political film ever made in Hollywood.
The first thing you should do with an actor is not sign a contract with him. Take him to dinner. And take him for a walk afterwards.
I was taken in by what might be called the Hard Times version of the Communists' advertising or recruiting technique.
I didn't have the problem of finding myself at 45 on the wrong course - I always wanted to be a film director.
The more ambivalent you are and the more uncertain you are, then you can get something that you cannot anticipate.
What's called a difficult decision is a difficult decision because either way you go there are penalties.
I was an outsider ... but I was also sympathetic with people that were struggling to get up, because I struggled to get up.
Miller didn't write Death of a Salesman. He released it. It was there inside him, waiting to be turned loose. That's the measure of its merit.