Alexander Payne quotes

What is filmmaking but groping in the dark? (Alexander Payne)
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. View quote
Alexander Payne
The kindest thing a director can do is look with open eyes at everything. View quote
Alexander Payne
When you're a houseguest and you leave, it's nice to straighten something up or send your hosts a useful gift. And when you leave the planet, it's nice to have made a positive contribution. View quote
Alexander Payne
If you were falling in love and you could go back in time and relive a day and see the banal things you did that you'd forgotten about, you'd weep, looking at that day. View quote
Alexander Payne
I like actors who, when you see them on screen, you sense a person, not just an actor. View quote
Alexander Payne
There is an audience out there for literate films - slower, more observant, more human films, and they deserve to be made. View quote
Alexander Payne
The biggest fear I have is to die with regrets, and of course that will come true. View quote
Alexander Payne
I think cynicism lasts. Sentimentality ages, dates quickly. View quote
Alexander Payne
Hollywood films have become a cesspool of formula and it's up to us to try to change it... I feel like a preacher! But it's really true. I feel personally responsible for the future of American cinema. Me personally. View quote
Alexander Payne
A book suggests a whole world and story that I could have never thought of in a million years. (Alexander Payne)
Even if we die at 100, we're still dying young. I want at least 700 years. There's a lot of travelling and books to read and movies to see. I'm not going to squeeze it all in in 85 years. View quote
Alexander Payne
I like voice-over in films, and most of my films have been voice-over films. View quote
Alexander Payne
In the moment of making films, I want to share my observations of life, not of other films. View quote
Alexander Payne
I like to think of film-making not just as an act of personal self-aggrandisement but rather as an act of public service. View quote
Alexander Payne
I don't want all of American cinema to be big cartoons that are just made to be digested by the entire world. View quote
Alexander Payne
I don't feel despair because I am able to make the films I want to make, and that gives me hope. View quote
Alexander Payne
I definitely in filmmaking more and more find writing and directing a means to harvest material for editing. It's all about editing. View quote
Alexander Payne
I always wanted 'Sideways' to be like a great 1960s Italian film. View quote
Alexander Payne
Each one of my movies becomes easier to get off the ground. View quote
Alexander Payne
The best cinema is about ethics. (Alexander Payne)
You just never know when you're living in a golden age. View quote
Alexander Payne
As the years go by and I make more films, I am increasingly interested in capturing place as a vivid backdrop for my films. View quote
Alexander Payne
I mean, look, I love movies, not just the ones I make... In fact, I don't like the movies I make very much. View quote
Alexander Payne
The actors are the greatest executors of tone in a film. They're the most important cinematic component. View quote
Alexander Payne