Elia Kazan Quotes
-
I was always a self-conscious person.
-
When you know what an actor has, you can reach in and arouse it. If you don't know what he has, you don't know what the hell is going on.
-
The motion pictures I have made and the plays I have chosen to direct represent my convictions.
-
The physical life of the scene is determined by whether the set squeezes people together or whether the set has an escape place in it.
-
TV has made us get down to the nub and new films will begin to live up to what the medium can be.
-
I think there should be collaboration, but under my thumb.
-
What's called a difficult decision is a difficult decision because either way you go there are penalties.
-
I was even superior to the Communists and when they didn't go along with me, I quit them.
-
You've got to keep fighting; you've got to risk your life every six months to stay alive.
-
If there is a better performance by a man in the history of film, I don't know what it is.
-
I thought what a terrible thing I had done; not the political aspect of it because maybe that was correct but it didn't matter now. Correct or not, all that mattered was the human side of things. I felt no political cause was worth hurting another human being for.
-
I won't go back to the theater. I like some of the things they're doing but it's different now, not something I could do. I'll go on making films the rest of my life.
-
It's difficult, if not impossible, to get away with anything false before the camera. That instrument penetrates the husk of the actor; it reveals what's truly happening - if anything, if nothing. A close-up demands absolute truth. It's a severe and awesome truth.
-
Hey, you must be doin' good, 'cause I never hear from you.
-
Our relationship was cursed by the fact that we agreed on everything.
-
I'm going to make a film where not one word is really important. I'm going to make it all action.
-
I used to spend most of my time straining to be a nice guy so people would like me.
-
I didn't have the problem of finding myself at 45 on the wrong course - I always wanted to be a film director.
-
One final thing a director needs: The ability to say 'I am wrong' or 'I was wrong.' Not as easy as it sounds. But in many situations, these 3 words, honestly spoken, will save the day.
-
You have to remind people of their own struggles. It's a responsibility.
-
The writer, when he is also an artist, is someone who admits what others don't dare reveal.
-
You have no idea how fragile an actor's self-worth is.
-
The belief that the good in American society will finally win out... I don't believe any more.
-
Wonder is our need today, not information.