Background Image

...

When You're Making A Film You Start Living With It, And I Find Myself Sitting Down And Figuring Out A Sound Or Melody That Would Go With A Film, Or A Particular Period. It's Not Brain Surgery, You Just Kind Of Feel It Along.

-Clint Eastwood

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

When You're Making A

Clint Eastwood

...

When You're Making A Film You Start Living With It, And I Find Myself Sitting Down And Figuring Out A Sound Or Melody That Would Go With A Film, Or A Particular Period. It's Not Brain Surgery, You Just Kind Of Feel It Along.

Views: 1580

Topic

More From Clint Eastwood

I'm Interested In The Fact That The Less Secure A Man Is, The More Likely He Is To Have Extreme Prejudice.

When You're Making A Movie, You Can't Think Anybody Will Ever See It. You've Just Got To Make A Movie For The Values It Has. The Greatest Films Were Made Because Someone Really Wanted To Make Them. And, Hopefully, The Audience Will Show Up, Too.

Everybody Always Feels That They're Right Even If They're Wrong And That's What A Whole Actor's Career Is Built Around Rationalizing Your Way Into Whatever Character You're Playing.

We Are Like Boxers, One Never Knows How Much Longer One Has

When You're Making A Film You Start Living With It, And I Find Myself Sitting Down And Figuring Out A Sound Or Melody That Would Go With A Film, Or A Particular Period. It's Not Brain Surgery, You Just Kind Of Feel It Along.

I Am Sort Of Anti-hunting. I Don't Put Down What Anyone Wants To Do, But It Seems To Me That Killing A Creature For Fun Is Not A Progressive Idea.

This Film Cost $31 Million. With That Kind Of Money I Could Have Invaded Some Country.

Self-respect Leads To Self-discipline.

I Can't Do That To Myself...

I've Had Moments When I've Thought About Somebody, Picked Up The Phone To Call Them And They Are On The Line Already, And I Think That Maybe There's Some Vibration, Some Connection.

What Do You Want Me To Tell Romney? I Can't Tell Him To Do That. I Can't Tell Him To Do That To Himself. You're Crazy. You're Absolutely Crazy. You're Getting As Bad As Biden.

If You Feel Like You've Got Something To Offer You Should Do It While The Iron's Hot.

A Man's Just Gotta Know His Limits

In America, Instead Of Making The Audience Come To The Film, The Idea Seems To Be For You To Go To The Audience. They Come Up With The Demographics For The Film And Then The Film Is Made And Sold Strictly To That Audience.

You Should Just Evaluate The Work And Make Your Judgments Accordingly. That's The Way You Do It In Life And Every Other Subject.

I Don't Like Showing The Technique. I Don't Like People Who Say, "here, I'm Going To Act, But First I Have To Bounce Off This Wall." If You Have To Bounce Off The Wall, Do It By Yourself. Don't Feature The Technique. My Old Drama Coach Used To Say, "don't Just Do Something, Stand There." Gary Cooper Wasn't Afraid To Do Nothing.

Nobody Looks Like They Did When They Were 20, So Why Not Take Advantage Of The Fact That You're Changing, Emotionally As Well As Physically?

You Have To Steal A Lot. You Have To Have A Criminal Mentality To Be A Film Director.

I Could Be The Driver - The Uber Guy Saying, "i Used To Be In Films Years Ago... ."

What Happened Is I Was Going To College In 1950. L. A. City College. A Guy I Knew Was Going To An Acting Class On Thursday Nights. He Started Telling Me About All The Good-lookin' Chicks And Said, "why Don't You Go With Me?" So I Probably Had Some Motivation Beyond Thoughts Of Being An Actor. And Sure Enough, He Was Right. There Were A Lot Of Girls And Not Many Guys. I Said, "yeah, They Need Me Here." I Wound Up At Universal As A Contract Player.

I Never Expect Anything. I Am Always Amazed At Why Anybody Goes To Any Movie Or Why Anybody Doesn't Go To Any Movie. Any Movie You Make, You Make It Because You're Hoping Somebody Wants To See It, But You Never Know.

I Always Like To Try Different Things, Different Genres; Stories That Have A Dramatic Element And Can Generate Conflict Which I Find Appealing; Where The Characters Have To Overcome Obstacles. That Kind Of Thing Is Challenging.

Being Comfortable Is Over-rated.

That's One Of The Actor's Secrets: With Everything You Do, Learn Something New About Yourself.

The Thing That Haunts A Man The Most Is What He Isn't Ordered To Do.

Everything That You Do Is A Challenge. And Acting Is Just Building Up Your Concentration And Being Able To Listen And To Do The Ridiculous.

I Just Make The Pictures And Where They Fall Is Where They Fall. If Somebody Likes Them, That's Always Nice. And If They Don't Like Them, Then Too Bad.

I Keep Working Because I Learn Something New All The Time.

Never Stop Learning

A Love Like This Happens But Once In A Lifetime

Once In A Lifetime

Maybe I`m Getting To The Age When I`m Starting To Be Senile Or Nostalgic Or Both, But People Are So Angry Now. You Used To Be Able To Disagree With People And Still Be Friends. Now You Hear These Talk Shows, And Everyone Who Believes Differently From You Is A Moron And An Idiot - Both On The Right And The Left.

I'm A Great Supporter Of Transcendental Meditation. I've Been Using It For Almost 40 Years Now - And I Think It's A Great Tool For Anyone To Have, To Be Able To Utilize As A Tool For Stress. Stress, Of Course, Comes With Almost Every Business. I Think There Are Enough Studies Out There That Show That Tm Is Something That Could Benefit Anybody. It's A Great System To Use. Otherwise, Why Would I've Been Doing It For All These Years, For Almost Half Of My Life?

In School, I Could Hear The Leaves Rustle And Go On A Journey.

You Know I've Had People Come Up And Ask Me To Sign Their Guns. Sign My Name On Gun Handles And Holsters And Stuff. I've Done It Once Or Twice For Law Enforcement Officials, But When People Do That -- And There Have Been Quite A Few Of Them Lately -- I Always Tell Them No. I Don't Want To Do That. I Don't Want My Name On That And I Hope You Use This Gun, Whatever Its Purpose Is, I Hope It's Used Wisely.

I Like A Drama. And I Think That's The Basis Of Good Films, Or Good Plays, Is To Have A Nice Drama.

Sometimes If You Want To See A Change For The Better, You Have To Take Things Into Your Own Hands.

Hollywood, As Everyone Knows, Glamorizes Physical Courage. . . . If I Had To Define Courage Myself, I Wouldn't Say It's About Shooting People. I'd Say It's The Quality That Stimulates People, That Enables Them To Move Ahead And Look Beyond Themselves.

Kids Piercing Themselves, Piercing Their Tongues, What Kind Of Masochism Is That? Is It To Show You Can Just Take It?

There's Something About The First Time An Actor Runs The Material Over His Or Her Face You Know When They Kind Of Run It Through Their Eyes And You See The Thing And There Is Little Imperfections In It And Not Every Line Is Delivered Perfectly, And It Doesn't Have That Mechanical Feeling.

We Don't Even Know Who's In The Academy.

The Main Thing Is, You Just Want To Have Your Place In History. You Hope That People Will Look Back On It In 15, 20, 30 And Beyond Years, And Say, "that Was An Exciting Film."

I Don't Look At My Life Too Much. I'm Always Looking Forward, Not Backward.

Looking Forward

The Most Gentle People In The World Are Macho Males, People Who Are Confident In Their Masculinity And Have A Feeling Of Well-being In Themselves. They Don't Have To Kick In Doors, Mistreat Women, Or Make Fun Of Gays.

Pay Attention To The Work You Want To Do And Everything'll Work Out Fine. If You're In It For The Ego, You Might Be Successful But At A Limited Level.

You Spend Your Life Training To Be An Actor, Observing People's Characteristics So That You Can Design Characters Around What You've Seen.

It Takes Tremendous Discipline To Control The Influence, The Power You Have Over Other People's Lives.

Influence And Power

I'd Like To Be A Bigger And More Knowledgeable Person Ten Years From Now Than I Am Today. I Think That For All Of Us As We Grow Older, We Must Discipline Ourselves To Continue Expanding, Broadening, Learning, Keeping Our Minds Active And Open.

Knowledgeable Person

Stage Actors Are Usually Much More Conscious Of Speaking Up And Making Sure That Everyone Can Hear In The Back Of The Theatre; A Film Actor Probably Thinks Of That A Little Less. Unfortunately, There's A Style Of Acting Going Round, Especially With The Younger Actors, Where They Talk Without Even Moving Their Lip. Maybe It's Because My Hearing Probably Isn't What It Was 40 Years Ago But I'm Sitting There Going "what Did They Say"?

If You Get A Certain Amount Of Notoriety For Doing Something, And You Can Stick To That Type Of Project For The Rest Of Your Life And Make A Decent Living, I Think You Still Have A Responsibility To Stretch. Flexibility Is What Keeps You Alive.

I Don't Believe In Pessimism.

I'm In The Saddle Every Day Playing A Screwball. And Then Somebody Comes Along And Says, "how Would You Like To Go To Italy And Spain And Do An Italian/spanish/german Co-production With An Italian Director Who's Only Directed One Movie?" It Wasn't Like I Was Going There To Be With Federico Fellini. But Something Was There, And I Thought, Well, I Loved This Story When It Was Told By Akira Kurosawa; Maybe This Is A Good Idea. That's An Instinctive Moment. A Fistful Of Dollars Was Made.

I Always Liked Characters That Were More Grounded In Reality.

Twenty-some States In The United States Have Statutes That Say Showing The Nipples To Children Is Oscene. That's The First Thing We Come Into Contact With When We Arrive On This Palnet: A Woman's Breasts!

Nobody Knows Diddly. They Just Think They Do. And The People That Think They Know The Most Know The Least.

Men Must Know Their Limitations.

Participating In A Gun Buy-back Program Because You Think That Criminals Have Too Many Guns Is Like Having Yourself Castrated Because You Think Your Neighbors Have Too Many Kids.

When I See A Story, I Ask: Is This Something I'd Like To Be In? Is This Something I'd Like To See? And If I'd Like To See It, Would I Like To Tell It?

Whether You Like It Or Not, You're Forced To Come To The Realisation That Death Is Out There. But I Don't Fear Death, I'm A Fatalist. I Believe When It's Your Time, That's It. It's The Hand You're Dealt.

I've Never Been On A Movie Where They Play Five-dollar Friday. I Must Not Be Very Observant.

Actors Know What Actors Are Insecure About - And They're All Insecure.

My Mother Knew How To Read Music And Everything. But I Just Kinda Learned Off Of Records. And So, I Was Listening To Records And I'd Play 'em Over And Over.

I Found Out That A Lot Of My Liberal Friends Weren't Liberal Because They Weren't Liberal About Approaching Anybody Else's Ideas, Or At Least Standing For It. They Started Getting Really Animalistic About, "i Can't Even Associate With This Guy. He's Stupid. He's An Idiot."

It's A Very Confusing Era That We're In.

First, I Blow A Hole In Your Face; Then I Go Back Inside, And Sleep Like A Baby... I Guarantee You.

I Guess A Great Movie Would Be One That Has The Most Great Moments In It.

You Have To Go With Your Instincts. I Remember When I Was About To Make "fistful Of Dollars" A Big Article Came Out That Said, "italian Westerns Are Finished." I Said, "swell." Then, Of Course, The Film Came Out, And It Did Something. I'm So Glad For The Dozens Of Times I Haven't Listened Along The Way.

I'm Past Doing One Chin-up More Than I Did The Day Before. I Just Kind Of Do What I Feel Like.

I Tried Being Reasonable, I Didn't Like It.

And I Think It's That Time. And I Think If You Just Step Aside And Mr. Romney Can Kind Of Take Over. You Can Maybe Still Use A Plane. Though Maybe A Smaller One. Not That Big Gas Guzzler You Are Going Around To Colleges And Talking About Student Loans And Stuff Like That.

I've Done A Few Special Effects Movies In My Life, So I've Gotten That Out Of My System.

At Waco, Was There Really An Urgency To Get Those People Out Of The Compound At That Particular Time? Was The Press Going To Make It Look Heroic For The Bureau Of Alcohol, Tobacco, And Firearms? At Ruby Ridge, There Was One Guy In A Cabin At The Top Of The Mountain. Was It Necessary For Federal Agents To Go Up There And Shoot A 14-year-old In The Back And Shoot A Woman With A Child In Her Arms? What Kind Of Mentality Does That?

If I'd Had Good Discipline, I Might Have Gone Into Music.

Our Modern Society - Especially In The West, And Especially Now - Reveres Youth.

Fate Pulls You In Different Directions

Different Directions

You Can't Stop Everything From Happening. But We've Gotten To A Point Where We're Certainly Trying. If A Car Doesn't Have Four Hundred Air Bags In It, Then It's No Good.

Whatever The Drama Of The Story Is, You Have To Be True To It.

I Mean, I've Always Been A Libertarian. Leave Everybody Alone. Let Everybody Else Do What They Want. Just Stay Out Of Everybody Else's Hair.

You, Me...we Own This Country. Politicians Are Employees Of Ours....and When Somebody Does Not Do The Job, We Got To Let Them Go.

I Don't Write. I Usually Look For Material By Other People. Sometimes I Change Things Or Adapt Things But I Don't Write From Scratch. I Wish I Had That Ability.

There's A Rebel Lying Deep In My Soul. Anytime Anybody Tells Me The Trend Is Such And Such, I Go The Opposite Direction. I Hate The Idea Of Trends. I Hate Imitation; I Have A Reverence For Individuality.

I Was Forty The First Time I Directed. I Formed A Company In 1967, Looking To The Future. My Dad Taught Me That Whatever You Do, Do It Well. Be The Best At What You Can Do For That Particular Job In Life. That Always Resonated With Me.

Over The Years, I Realized There Was A Republican Philosophy That I Liked. And Then They Lost It. And Libertarians Had More Of It. Because What I Really Believe Is, Let's Spend A Little More Time Leaving Everybody Alone.

I Know What You're Thinking. Did He Fire Six Shots Or Only Five? Well, To Tell You The Truth, In All This Excitement, I've Kinda Lost Track Myself. But Being As This Is A .44 Magnum, The Most Powerful Handgun In The World, And Would Blow Your Head Clean Off, You've Got To Ask Yourself One Question: "do I Feel Lucky?" Well, Do Ya, Punk?

It's What People Know About Themselves Inside That Makes Them Afraid.

I Was Always Annoyed By Too Much Explaining.

A Good Man Always Knows His Limitations.

People Love Westerns Worldwide. There's Something Fantasy-like About An Individual Fighting The Elements. Or Even Bad Guys And The Elements. It's A Simpler Time. There's No Organized Laws And Stuff.

There Are So Many Parallels In Society Today [with Era Of J. Edgar Hoover ] That You Can Use, Whether It's The Head Of A Studio Or The Head Of An Organization, A Major Newspaper, A Major Factory Or Company, Of People Who Stay Too Long, Maybe, And Overstay Their Usefulness.

My Father Had A Couple Of Kids At The Beginning Of The Depression. There Was Not Much Employment. Not Much Welfare. People Barely Got By. People Were Tougher Then.

There Are A Lot Of Conservative People, A Lot Of Moderate People, Republicans, Democrats, In Hollywood. It Is Just That The Conservative People By The Nature Of The Word Itself Play Closer To The Vest. They Do Not Go Around Hot Dogging It.

I Became A Republican In 1951, The First Year I Could Vote.

I Never Considered Myself A Cowboy, Because I Wasn`t. But I Guess When I Got Into Cowboy Gear I Looked Enough Like One To Convince People That I Was.

Things Always Look Different From Higher Up.

I Couldn't Tell You Exactly What I Like About Golf. Just When You Think You've Got It Mastered It Lets You Know You Haven't. I'm Just Crazy Enough To Do It.

I Was Kind Of A Little Disappointed When They Started Building A Competition Between Marty (martin Scorsese) And Me. I Have The Greatest Respect For Him And All The Films He's Done Over The Years.

I'm Not A Chick-flick Enthusiast.

Scott Eastwood Always Came In And Did A Good Job. And He's Now Graduated To Better Roles, And The Chicks Are All Calling And Asking Where Scott Is. They Used To Ask Where I Was. Now They're Going, "what About Scott?"

I Am Not A Regret Type Person. I Don't Believe In Regrets. Lots Of Things You Would Do Differently If You'd Do It Again, But You Don't Do It Again, So You Don't Think About It. But That Goes For Life In General. You're Only Dealing With The Knowledge You Have At That Time.

The Best Part Of Aging In This Business Is Losing That Obsession About Work And Being Able To Spend A Little More Time With Family.

Aging Can Be Fun If You Lay Back And Enjoy It.

I Would Like To Be Interpreted As A Liberal Libertarian, Like Leave Everybody Alone And Let Them Do Their Own Thing.

I Do Believe If One Keeps Busy It's Very Good For A Person. In Fact, People Are Always Rushing Into Retirement And We Read In Europe That People There Are Talking About Their Retirement Age And Moving It To 67 Or Something. Well, Back When They Started Retirement Funds And Everything, The Average Age Was 70 Or 60, And Then All Of A Sudden Now It's 80, And So. [...] And So You Keep In Shape, You Keep Yourself Mentally In Shape. And If You Keep Yourself Mentally In Shape, Chances Are Physically It Will Follow Suit.

I Think Great Movies Have To Have Some Great Moments In Them To Bring Them Up To That Level.

I Always Thought What An Interesting Idea Because Almost Everybody's Fascinated By The Perpetrator Of A Crime; Very Few People Study What Happens To People For The Rest Of Their Lives, And How It Affects Not Only That Particular Character But Other Characters Around Him As Well.

I'm Always Trying To Tackle Subjects That Tax Me And Make Me Think. That's The Key To Staying Young At Heart. The Brain Has To Be Exercised The Same As The Rest Of The Body.

Music Does Have A Very Special Place In My Heart. I Enjoy It Very Much. I Suppose It Is My First Love And I Do A Lot Of It. It Seems To Be When You Are Making A Project It Inspires You Sometimes To Jot Down Something That You Think Fits The Situation.

The Only Reason I Ever Thought About Retiring From The Front Part Of The Camera As Opposed To The Back Is Sometimes You Think, "how Many Roles Are There For Someone My Age?"

I Believe In My Gut. Most People Intellectualize Their Instincts Away, But When You Feel Something, You Have To Go For It. A Fistful Of Dollars Was A Great Instinct For Me, Because Here I Was, A Guy Who's Doing Rawhide.

I Guess It's Like Trying To Put Through The Flat Tax, Which Is Probably My Favorite One Of All.... If We Did Pass It, All Of A Sudden, What Do You Have? You Have The Whole Tax System Run By A Little Old Lady On A Home Computer, Doing The Work Of All These Thousands Of Bureaucrats And Accountants. Passing That Would Be Amazing, Wouldn't It?

When I Look Back On My Life, I Don't Have Regrets About What I Didn't Do. If I'd Become A Musician, It Could Have Ruined My Life.

When A Naked Man Is Chasing A Woman Through An Alley With A Butcher Knife And A Hard-on, I Figure He Isn't Out Collecting For The Red Cross.

I Think Being Able To Age Gracefully Is A Very Important Talent. It Is Too Late For Me. The Horse Is Out Of The Barn... In Past Generations, People Would Try To Play Younger Than They Really Are. My Trick Is, I Don't Try To Play Younger Than I Really Am.

I'm Just A Kid. I've Got A Lot Of Stuff To Do Yet.

Everybody's Got A Right To Be A Sucker ... Once.

None Of The Pictures I Take A Risk In Cost A Lot, So It Doesn't Take Much For Them To Turn A Profit. We Don't Deal In Big Budgets. We Know What We Want And We Shoot It And We Don't Waste Anything. I Never Understand These Films That Cost Twenty, Thirty Million Dollars When They Could Be Made For Half That. Maybe It's Because No One Cares. We Care.

I Think The Only Way It Has Influenced Me Is To Cause Me To Try To Branch Out And Do Other Things. So That People Will Know That I Am Reaching Out And Trying To Be A Little More Versatile. So They Realize He Is Not A "dirty Harry." He Doesn't Advocate Martial Law Or Mayhem -it's A Character.

Westerns. A Period Gone By, The Pioneer, The Loner Operating By Himself, Without Benefit Of Society. It Usually Has Something To Do With Some Sort Of Vengeance; He Takes Care Of The Vengeance Himself, Doesn't Call The Police. Like Robin Hood. It's The Last Masculine Frontier. Romantic Myth. I Guess, Though It's Hard To Think About Anything Romantic Today. In A Western You Can Think, Jesus, There Was A Time When Man Was Alone, On Horseback, Out There Where Man Hasn't Spoiled The Land Yet.

I Like The Inspiration Of The First Take.

Acting To Me Is A Very Organic Art Form And You Just Go And Do It. And I Like To Direct The Same Way That I Like To Be Directed. Let Me Bring In What I Want To Bring In, And If Something's Wrong, Just Tell Me About It And I'll Make Some Corrections Or Adjustments. And That's What I Do.

At Some Point In Your Fife, Your Tolerance Level Goes Down And You Realize That, With Someone Much Younger, There's Nothing Really To Talk About. And I Think We're At A Point Now Where A Lot Of Older Women Take Better Care Of Themselves, Compared To The 1940s And '50s When Women Were Programmed To Figure It's All Over After 30.

Are You Going To Pull Those Pistols Or Whistle Dixie?

I've Always Told My Son Scott The Same Thing: Don't Rush Into Anything, Because There's Gonna Be A Lot Of Fish In The Sea. You Can Be One Of The People That's Lucky Enough Not To Become A Loser Two And Three And Four Times Over Like People Do, Just By Being A Little More Patient.

Well, If You're Waitin' For A Woman To Make Up Her Mind, You May Have A A Long Wait.

I Just Don't Want To Copy The Current Trends Or Do Movies For Teenagers. I Want People To Get More Out Of Movies.

Everybody Puts Importance In Money On A Film Set.

The Interesting Thing With Child Actors Is That Kids Are Natural Actors. They're Wonderful Actors, And Most Kids Are Acting All The Time. They're Imagining They're Out In The Yard Playing. They're Imagining That Things Happened, And They Can Get Very Vivid.

I Have Great Respect For The Fbi, And I Know That There Have Been Some Rumors Lately That The Fbi Was Disenchanted Because Of What We Were Doing In Story, Or Doing A Certain Take: That's Not True. Actually The Fbi Was Tremendously Enthusiastic About Us Doing [ J. Edgar Hoover ] Film.

I Don't Necessarily Look For Dark Themes; They Just Seem To Appear.

I Just Feel That I Enjoy The Work More Than I Ever Have... Or Just As Much Certainly... I Enjoy Making Films Behind The Camera Equally To Making Them In Front Of The Camera On All Those Years. I Just Enjoy It, That's All. I've Been Lucky Enough To Work In A Profession That I Have Really Liked And So I Figured I'd Just Continue Until Someone Hits Me Over The Head And Says "get Out".

People Have Lost Their Sense Of Humor. In Former Times, We Constantly Made Jokes About Different Races.

Crimes Against Children Are The Most Heinous Crime. That, For Me, Would Be A Reason For Capital Punishment Because Children Are Innocent And Need The Guidance Of An Adult Society.

I Had Three Points I Wanted To Make. That Not Everybody In Hollywood Is On The Left, That Obama Has Broken A Lot Of Promises He Made When He Took Office, And That The People Should Feel Free To Get Rid Of Any Politician Who's Not Doing A Good Job. But I Didn't Make Up My Mind Exactly What I Was Going To Say Until I Said It.

I'm A Firm Believer In Research, But I'm Also A Firm Believer In Utilizing The Instincts That Are Within Your Soul Or In Your Body Or In Your Stomach, Wherever They Reside.

The More Time You Have To Think Things Through, The More You Have To Screw It Up.

A Lot Of People Are Realizing They Had The Wool Pulled Over Their Eyes By Obama.

If You're Afraid To Take Risks In Anything In Life, It's Just Boredom.

Anything In Life

Extremism Is So Easy. You've Got Your Position, And That's It. It Doesn't Take Much Thought. And When You Go Far Enough To The Right You Meet The Same Idiots Coming Around From The Left.

A Lot Of People When They Retire, They Just Expire. It Happens To Men More Than Women. Women Usually Have Great Interest In The Family, Because The Family's Always Growing And They're Always Coming To The Rescue.

Take Your Work Seriously, But Don't Take Yourself Seriously

If A Person Doesn't Change, There's Something Really Wrong With Him.

There's A Saying That We Use In Golf: "i'd Rather Be Lucky Than Good." Of Course, To Be Lucky And Good Is The Ideal. If You Study Hard, You Can Get Good. And If You Get Lucky And Get The Proper Parts For People To Be Able To Appreciate What You're Doing ... I'm Sure There Are Many Actors That Are Quite Talented Who Have Never Been A Success Because They've Never Had The Right Opportunity And The Right Material. My Mother Used To Think I Had A Guardian Angel.

I'm So Glad For The Dozens Of Times I Haven't Listened Along The Way.

There Was A Stool There, And Some Fella Kept Asking Me If I Wanted To Sit Down. When I Saw The Stool Sitting There, It Gave Me The Idea. I'll Just Put The Stool Out There And I'll Talk To Mr Obama And Ask Him Why He Didn't Keep All Of The Promises He Made To Everybody.

Let's Not Go And Ruin It By Thinking Too Much.

If You've Done What You Intended And If Nobody Tampered With It, Then It's Yours. And If People Don't Like It, Then They Just Don't Agree With You On That Subject Matter, And That's Life.

Opinions Are Like A**holes, Everybody Has One.

There Are Two Kinds Of People In This World. 'i' People And 'we' People. I've Always Tried To Be A 'we' Person.

That's Why I Don't Rehearse A Lot And Why I Shoot A Lot Immediately. I Have Ideas Of Where I'd Like To Take The Character, But We Both End Up Going Together.

Drama Usually Has Some Sort Of Intense Conflict.

Every Story Has Its Demands.

Abuse Of Power Isn't Limited To 'bad Guys' In Other Nations. It Happens In Our Own Country. Those In Power Get Jaded, Deluded, And Seduced By Power Itself. I Have A Reverence For Individuality. I've Always Considered Myself Too Individualistic To Be Either Right-wing Or Left-wing. I Like The Libertarian View, Which Is To Leave Everyone Alone. People Should Be Able To Be What They Want To Be And Do What They Want - As Long As They're Not Harming Other People. I Am A Libertarian.

I Was Drafted During The Korean War.

A Lot Of People Are Bored Of All The Political Correctness.

Overnight Stardom Can Be Harmful To Your Mental Health. Yeah. It Has Ruined A Lot Of People.

Romney And Ryan Would Do A Much Better Job Running The Country, And That's What Everybody Needs To Know.

Everybody Is Looking For A Reason To Not To Take Responsibility For Their Own Actions In Hand.

I Just Think It Is Important That You Realize, That You're The Best In The World. Whether You Are A Democrat Or Republican Or Whether You're Libertarian Or Whatever, You Are The Best. And We Should Not Ever Forget That. And When Somebody Does Not Do The Job, We Got To Let Them Go.

I'm Not Really Conservative. I'm Conservative On Certain Things. I Believe In Less Government. I Believe In Fiscal Responsibility And All Those Things That Maybe Republicans Used To Believe In But Don't Any More.

Do Ya' Feel Lucky, Punk?

Of Course We All Know Biden Is The Intellect Of The Democratic Party. Kind Of A Grin With A Body Behind It.

I Think Being Able To Age Gracefully Is A Very Important Talent. It Is Too Late For Me.

I Always Felt Blessed That I Was Able To Make A Living In A Profession [acting] That Not A Lot Of People Can Make A Living At, And I Was Able To Do Something I Liked, Rather Than Be In A Job That I Hated.

The Reason I Still Work At This Stage Of Life Is Because I Enjoy Learning Something New Each Day.

Learning Something New

You Have To Be Realistic About Where You Are In Life And Enjoy It.

Where You Are In Life

The Innocence Of Childhood Is Like The Innocence Of A Lot Of Animals.

Scott's Eastwood Movie Snowden Sounds Fascinating. I Want To See It Because It's About Deserting Your Country ... For Whatever Reasons You Have. Edward Snowden Became Famous For The Wrong Reasons, As Captain Chesley "sully" Sullenberger Became Famous For Doing Something Spectacular.

In Recent Times It Just Seems That Women Have Been Relegated To Either Romantic Roles Or Fluff Pieces. So The Appeal, For Me, Is To Make A Picture About A Real Woman.

My Wife And I Are Both Libertarian; She Was A Democrat And I Was A Republican, And We Both Met In The Middle Somewhere.

I Have A Very Strict Gun Control Policy: If There's A Gun Around, I Want To Be In Control Of It.

Plagiarism Is Always The Biggest Thing In Hollywood.

As A Movie Actor, Once You've Become Known, You're Observed All The Time So You Don't Get The Chance To Observe Anymore. You Still Get A Taste Of Life But It's Not Quite The Same And There's Something To Be Said For A More Anonymous Life.

If You Approach A Film With The Feeling That You Are Going To Have Some Impact On Society Then You're Liable To Get Carried Away With Yourself. Alfred Hitchcock Once Told Me, When I Was Analyzing A Lot Of Things About His Pictures, "clint, You Must Remember, It's Only A Movie.

Great Stories Teach You Something. That's One Reason I Haven't Slipped Into Some Sort Of Retirement: I Always Feel Like I'm Learning Something New.

Learning Something New

Tomorrow Is Promised To No One.

After Directing Awhile, You Get An Instinct About It, But You Have To Be Able To Trust Your Own Feelings. Invariably, Two-thirds Of The Way Through A Film, You Say, "jeezus, Is This A Pile Of Crap! What Did I Ever See In It In The First Place?" You Have To Shut Off Your Brain And Forge Ahead, Because By That Time You're Getting So Brainwashed. Once I Commit Myself To A Film I Commit Myself To That Ending, Whatever The Motivations And Conclusions Are.

You Always Want To Quit While You Are Ahead. You Don't Want To Be Like A Fighter Who Stays Too Long In The Ring Until You're Not Performing At Your Best.

Directing Is More Like You're Being A Psychologist And You're Kind Of Analyzing The Situation And Evaluating Each Person For Their Idiosyncrasies.

I've Lived Through The Shooting Of Movie, The Editing And Every Other Process Along The Way, So It's Not For Me To Really Judge It. I'll Probably Look At It Again Five Years From Now To Get A Fresh Feel For It.

To Me Cinema Can Be A Much More Friendly World If There's A Lot Of Things To Choose From.

These People Who Are Making A Big Deal Out Of Gay Marriage? I Don't Give A Fuck About Who Wants To Get Married To Anybody Else! Why Not?! We're Making A Big Deal Out Of Things We Shouldn't Be Making A Deal Out Of. Hey Go On And On With All This Bullshit About "sanctity"—don't Give Me That Sanctity Crap! Just Give Everybody The Chance To Have The Life They Want.

Pose? I Don't Pose. What Am I? Paris Hilton Or Something?

Once A Man Has Some Money, Peace Begins To Sound Good To Him.

I Don't Really Get Into A Big Intellectual Analysis Of Why I Am Going To Do A Certain Script Or Not.

The Cruelty Of Nature Is You Have To Work Out Harder When You Get Older ... It Should Be The Other Way Around: Work Out Hard When You're A Kid You Should Be Able To Coast When You Get Older. But Unfortunately You Have To Do More To Stay In The Same Position.

The Reason I Don't Retire Is That I Learn Something New Every Day. The Brain Has To Be Exercised The Same As The Rest Of The Body. It's About Expanding, Constantly Pushing Yourself.

Michael Moore And I Actually Have A Lot In Common. We Both Appreciate Living In A Country Where There's Free Expression. But Michael, If You Ever Show Up At My Front Door With A Camera, I'll Kill You. I Mean It.

Am I Aging? The Pros And The Cons? Well, You Know A Lot More, At Least Until The Time You Start Forgetting It All. Actually, Aging Can Be A Fun Process, To Some Degree.

Secretly Everybody's Getting Tired Of Political Correctness, Kissing Up. That's The Kiss-ass Generation We're In Right Now. We're Really In A Pussy Generation. Everybody's Walking On Eggshells. We See People Accusing People Of Being Racist And All Kinds Of Stuff. When I Grew Up, Those Things Weren't Called Racist.

Respect Your Efforts, Respect Yourself. Self-respect Leads To Self-discipline. When You Have Both Firmly Under Your Belt, That's Real Power.

If A Person Is Constantly Evolving, Constantly Reading New Material And Being Exposed To New Material And Growing In Life, Then You're Becoming, Hopefully, A More Intelligent And Well-rounded Individual. If You're Not Then Something's Wrong And You're Sliding Back In The Other Direction.

It's Not About You. It's About Them.

Keep Your Eyes On The Horizon And Your Nose To The Wind.

I Don't Believe In Pessimism. If Something Doesn't Come Up The Way You Want, Forge Ahead. If You Think It's Going To Rain, It Will.

Famous Inspirational

I'd Say People Get To Work And Start Being More Understanding Of Everybody - Instead Of Calling Everybody Names, Start Being More Understanding. But Get In There And Get It Done. Kick Ass And Take Names. And This May Be My Dad Talking, But Don't Spend What You Don't Have.

When I Was Young There Was No Respect For The Young, And Now That I Am Old There Is No Respect For The Old

If Somebody's Dumb Enough To Ask Me To Go To A Political Convention And Say Something, They're Gonna Have To Take What They Get.

The Country Has Come A Long Way In Race Relations, But The Pendulum Swings So Far Back. Everyone Wants To Be So Sensitive.

Today, The Only Thing Hollywood Swears By Is Space Adventures Because That's What Goes Over Well. For My Part, I Trust My Instinct And I Make The Films I Believe In. If The Public Follows Me, That's Wonderful. If It Doesn't Follow, "c'est La Vie.

Every Man Has Got To Know His Limitations.

Conflict Is The Basis Of Drama. I Guess That Goes Back As Long As Time Has Existed As Far As Mankind Is Concerned, Dating Back To The Greek Tragedies Or The Old Testament. And Violence Is A Form Of Conflict, So Whether That's Catharsis Or Whether That Has Some Socially Damaging Effect On Audiences - I Suppose That Would Just Depend.

If You Can Make A Good Picture That Actually Has Some Substance, That's Doubly Good Nowadays 'cause Most Everybody Else Is Trying To Address How Many Cgi Plates We're Gonna Do, What Little Being Is Gonna Come In From Another Asteroid.

Trending Author

Eddie Bernice Johnson

Category