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I had never thought of making a western even as I was making it.
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As far as commercials were concerned, I did very few, and I did them only when they gave me carte blanche to them the way that I wanted to. And I did them as an exercise, because I, who do very long films, never thought I would be able to tell a story in 30 or 40 seconds - you come across a whole new system and manner of approaching a subject.
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It's very easy with the camera to show the positive side of something.
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The world is in America. In Italy is only Italy. France is full of France. Germany is full of Germany. In a continent that contains the entire world, contradictions are, of course, constantly arising.
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I must be honest and say that I was under the fascination of films. I was fascinated by all films, even the words of them. If I was to do a more-precise analysis of the situation, I have to admit that I was more entertained by the bad films than the good ones. Because when something is beautiful, it is there; it is finished; it is done. It doesn't have to be touched or be worked upon.
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There are directors, and there are authors. I think I am more of an author than a director.
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Virginia Woolf was one example. She was called the "Lover of 100 Gangsters."
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It film-making really just has to do with my own ghosts and phantoms. And I have to say, in the end, it's just my way of seeing things.
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The best photographers are super nice people and that its not a coincidence. Great photographers genuinely like people, and people can feel that. That's what makes people feel comfortable. It is important to appear confident with clients, but it is more important to not be afraid to act like a fool, have fun, laugh and shake your hips to get people comfortable.
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Especially in gangster films, with the gangster's moll - she would always be more or less of an object. And I'm not convinced of this theory. Because I think even gangsters' women have brains. They think and even, as we say, have balls.
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My life, my reading, everything about me revolves around the cinema. So for me, cinema is life, and vice-versa.
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I have to be honest about one thing. When I want to America, no on asked me how I was. Everyone always asked me, "How much do you make?"
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Probably the greatest writer of westerns himself was Homer. His character were never all good or all bad. They're half and half, these characters, as all human beings are.
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It is hard to do a film that wants to say something because, unfortunately, most everything has been said.
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America interests me above all because it is so filled with contradictions, interesting contradictions, which change constantly. Even if you've decided that you don't want to deal with that subject again, before you know it, the desire comes back to do it yet again.
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I think politics should be expressed in this way and not in other ways. And not just politics - sentiments, even certain states of being.
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It is clear that the vehicle of the western was a very interesting vehicle for me to contraband some of my ideas.
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I really do believe that the Jesuit system is better for a country.
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The American public is a very specialized public.
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My films are often characterized by the lack of women present in them, except for this last one Once Upon a Time in America.