“There are so many things necessary for the making of good pictures, and so few people can qualify! They grasp the superficial points, fill in with a lot of ‘hokum’ and ‘get by,’ temporarily! But there is no sincerity, and it tells in the end. Whatever I do may be wrong, but while I am […]
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“I felt the urge to direct, because I couldn’t stomach what was being done with what I wrote.” — Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1909-1993) “I couldn’t do films today. In fact I sensed that – I must have sensed that even more than I thought I did, like a hurricane way off on the horizon. You […]
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“It’s no wonder they say Wilder is out of touch with the times. Who the hell wants to be in touch with these times?” — Billy Wilder in 1975. Source: Robert Horton’s book, Billy Wilder: Interviews Photo: Annie Leibovitz (taken much later, of course) The Sunset Blvd. wax display at the defunct Movieland Wax […]
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“My one regret in life is that I am not someone else.” — Woody Allen Photographer: Irving Penn. “‘Take the Money and Run’ and ‘Bananas’ were my first two movies. I was learning, floundering, trying to get by on my sense of humor. When it came to the moment of truth, I felt I […]
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“Yep, this business is the biggest gamble. It’s very true here that prosperity is just around the corner. And there are a lot of corners in making pictures.” — W.S. Van Dyke Source: 1937 “There’s a movie boner in ‘Naughty Marietta’ which no one noticed. I’m surprised no one saw it. Miss MacDonald is […]
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“This is the only industry that finances its own blackmail.” — Producer Walter Wanger on Hollywood’s gossip columnists. 2
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“There isn’t another location in the world so consistently suited for producing motion pictures as Los Angeles. Being a director, I can speak from the director’s point of view. The light and the clearness of the atmosphere cannot be beaten anywhere. These make for fine photography which is a most necessary element of motion pictures. […]
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“I do not believe the great vogue of the stage star on the screen is going to last. I have never encouraged it at the Edison plant; in fact, I have been against it. I believe the players who are trained in picture work can better portray a given character than one comes to it […]
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“You know, most anybody can be nice, but you’ve got some work ahead of you to make everybody in the audience honestly hate you. The villains generally have the best acting parts in the story. They make the situations for the hero-boys, and make them stand out. If you want to see a leading man lose […]
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“I was looking for plays – fairly desperate because I could find nothing that suited me. I saw some of Miss Loos‘ work and said, ‘There’s the thing I want’….You must admit that Miss Loos is a wonder at titles. She is rather young to be called a mother, but I call her the mother […]
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