Elia Kazan Quotes
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I hate the Communists and have for many years and don't feel right about giving up my career to defend them. I will give up my film career if it is in the interests of defending something I believe in, but not this.
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There aren't many male stars - that's a loose term - like Kirk [Douglas] around. Most of those virile personalities have to keep working, continue the image because they can't do anything else. They don't even read. Their real identity is in making those pictures. They have to keep jumping on horses and hitting somebody on the head with a gun.
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I was very intense. I think it's a privilege to be an actor.
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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.
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I like directors who come on the set and create something that's a little dangerous, difficult or unusual.
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I left the theater; I literally left to begin a new life.
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I was not a collective person or a bohemian; I was an elitist.
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I owe Bankhead a gift; she made a director out of me.
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Every picture that is successful has one little miracle in it.
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I've lost many of my best friends... I'm going to satisfy myself now, not the critics, not even my friends.
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I didn't have that much confidence. Maybe it looks that way. I'm glad it does.
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If you're going to play a cowboy, show up with the horse at the audition.
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I knew the exuberance of playing before an admiring audience and hearing my secret voice.
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I gave my life to the Group Theatre, because in it I'm building something for myself. What I build, I am.
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I was taken in by what might be called the Hard Times version of the Communists' advertising or recruiting technique.
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I spoke without fear of contradiction. I simply did not suffer self-doubt.
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I joined the Communist Party late in 1934. I got out a year and a half later.
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I want to thank the Academy for its courage and generosity.
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I know many of the critics and I don't think of them as God-like figures. What can they do to hurt me? Sure, I might be slightly embarrassed for a day, but then you just go your own way.
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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.
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Some directors, like Stevens [George Stevens], shoot full circle, 360 degrees, and that's what's right for them. I generally shoot at about a seven to one ratio. But part of that is because I've worked on every screenplay, so I'm further along in the visual concept.
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Stylized acting and direction is to realistic acting and direction as poetry is to prose.
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I value peace when it is not bought at the price of fundamental decencies.
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I was the true future. I understood Communism better than they did.