John Sayles Quotes

United States, Film Director
September 28, 1950

John Thomas Sayles (born September 28, 1950) is an American independent film director, screenwriter, editor, actor and novelist. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, for Passion Fish (1992) and Lone Star (1996). His film Men with Guns (1997) was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. His directorial debut, Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980), has been added to the National Film Registry.

Also known as Screenwriter, Editor, Actor, Novelist

There are genres I don't care for, and I've never worked in those genres, and then sometimes there are people that I haven't liked and I haven't worked for those people. But if I feel like there's a movie that I would like to go see, I'll jump into it.

John Sayles
- People
- Movie
- Jump
The media in America has become so cowed and compromised.

John Sayles
- America

Well, acting is cheap; I knew all these actors who weren't in the Screen Actors Guild yet, and it happened that they were all just about thirty years old.

John Sayles
I remember being out here at the Sunset Marquis, and whoever knocked on the door, I would take that picture that I was writing and I would put that in the typewriter, so when I had the meeting, they would say: 'Oh, you're working on it right now?'

John Sayles
- Writing
- Remember
- Picture
I always feel that there are no final victories and no final defeats. But it's true that America is in a hole right now. There are a lot of dead fish in the water.

John Sayles
- America
- True
- Water
I certainly grew up seeing more movies and television than I read books, but when it came time to do the thing itself you don't have to hire a lot of people to sit down and write a book, so that was the story-telling medium that was available to me.

John Sayles
- People
- Up
- Time
I've always felt like I was on the margins. Once upon a time that's what independent used to mean.

John Sayles
- Time
- Independent
When I was really young I didn't know that there was such a thing as a screenwriter. I wrote stories.

John Sayles

To this day, I get rewrite offers where they say: 'We feel this script needs work with character, dialogue, plot and tone,' and when you ask what's left, they say: 'Well, the typing is very good.'

John Sayles
- Good
- Work
- Character