Back in the days of Orkut, I used to post in 3-4 movie related communities. I stumbled upon one tribute post that I had created there for the legendary director Billy Wilder, here is a collection of some Billy Wilder quotes from that tribute piece:
Wilder was a writer who went on to become a director. On being asked if it is necessary for a director to be able to write:
No, but it certainly helps if he can read!!
You're only as good as the best thing you've ever done.
Austrians are geniuses. They have manged to convince the world that Beethoven is an Austrian and Hitler is a German.
It used to be that we in films were the lowest form of art. Now we have something to look down on. (Of Television)
Making movies is a little like walking into a dark room. Some people stumble across furniture, others break their legs, but some of us see better in the dark than others. The ultimate trick is to convince, persuade. Every single person out there is an idiot, but collectively they're a genius.”
An actor entering through the door, you've got nothing. But if he enters through the window, you've got a situation.
I have ten commandments. The first nine are, thou shalt not bore. The tenth is, thou shalt have right of final cut.
If there's anything I hate more than being taken seriously, it's being taken too seriously.
Don't be too clever for an audience. Make it obvious. Make the subtleties obvious also
An audience is never wrong. An individual member of it may be an imbecile, but a thousand imbeciles together in the dark - that is critical genius.
(after directing Marilyn Monroe for the second time in Some Like It Hot (1959)) I have discussed this with my doctor and my psychiatrist and they tell me I'm too old and too rich to go through this again.
People copy, people steal. Most of the pictures they make nowadays are loaded down with special effects. I couldn't do that. I quit smoking because I couldn't reload my Zippo.
Eighty percent of a picture is writing, the other twenty percent is the execution, such as having the camera on the right spot and being able to afford to have good actors in all parts
(When asked what the purpose of making films is) Well, number one, it's too late for me now to change and to become a gardener. Number two is to get away from the house and the vacuum cleaner. I want to be in my office and think.
And number three, it's very exciting. I like to tell stories. Ultimately it's interesting. You meet nice people, it's glamorous, and, if you get lucky, very profitable. You suffer a great deal, but to paraphrase President Truman, if you can't take all that crap, get out of the studio.
Believe me, this is not a profession for a dignified human being. I can see the interest in pictures when I talk to you students [at the American Film Institute], especially now that almost every university has something connected with movies. But if I had a son I would beat him with a very large whip trying to make a gardener, a dentist or something else out of him. Don't do it. It's just too tough. It hurts, and the moments of glory are very far between. Well, it's too late for me to turn back, too late for me to become a gardener. I can't bend over the azaleas. Not anymore.
“As a class, Americans are extremely impatient. While they are the first to catch onto a joke, they are also the quickest to get bored. In Europe, a film producer can take his time establishing a mood. He can have dozens of dissolves of clouds. Americans audiences will not sit still for them, no matter how beautiful or exciting they may be. If they show the second cloud shot they expect to see an airplane in it. Then, if there's a third, they expect to see the plane explode in mid-air. The story must progress with every angle.”
Lines from New York Times' coverage of AFI's Life Achievement Award to Billy:
And he worried. The people he would like to thank, he said, ''are all dead now'' - the director Ernst Lubitsch, his early collaborator Charles Brackett, William Holden, Gary Cooper, Tyrone Power, Erich von Stroheim, Gloria Swanson, Humphrey Bogart. Around 11 P.M., dapper and fully in command, the 79-year-old writer-director managed, as usual, to turn his worry into a biting joke. In his acceptance speech, he imagined the movie he could make in heaven starring all those dead actors, with music by Beethoven and 'additional dialogue by W. Shakespeare.' Then, he said, the studio would put it in turnaround.
Wilder was a writer who went on to become a director. On being asked if it is necessary for a director to be able to write:
No, but it certainly helps if he can read!!
You're only as good as the best thing you've ever done.
Austrians are geniuses. They have manged to convince the world that Beethoven is an Austrian and Hitler is a German.
It used to be that we in films were the lowest form of art. Now we have something to look down on. (Of Television)
Making movies is a little like walking into a dark room. Some people stumble across furniture, others break their legs, but some of us see better in the dark than others. The ultimate trick is to convince, persuade. Every single person out there is an idiot, but collectively they're a genius.”
An actor entering through the door, you've got nothing. But if he enters through the window, you've got a situation.
I have ten commandments. The first nine are, thou shalt not bore. The tenth is, thou shalt have right of final cut.
If there's anything I hate more than being taken seriously, it's being taken too seriously.
Don't be too clever for an audience. Make it obvious. Make the subtleties obvious also
An audience is never wrong. An individual member of it may be an imbecile, but a thousand imbeciles together in the dark - that is critical genius.
(after directing Marilyn Monroe for the second time in Some Like It Hot (1959)) I have discussed this with my doctor and my psychiatrist and they tell me I'm too old and too rich to go through this again.
People copy, people steal. Most of the pictures they make nowadays are loaded down with special effects. I couldn't do that. I quit smoking because I couldn't reload my Zippo.
Eighty percent of a picture is writing, the other twenty percent is the execution, such as having the camera on the right spot and being able to afford to have good actors in all parts
(When asked what the purpose of making films is) Well, number one, it's too late for me now to change and to become a gardener. Number two is to get away from the house and the vacuum cleaner. I want to be in my office and think.
And number three, it's very exciting. I like to tell stories. Ultimately it's interesting. You meet nice people, it's glamorous, and, if you get lucky, very profitable. You suffer a great deal, but to paraphrase President Truman, if you can't take all that crap, get out of the studio.
Believe me, this is not a profession for a dignified human being. I can see the interest in pictures when I talk to you students [at the American Film Institute], especially now that almost every university has something connected with movies. But if I had a son I would beat him with a very large whip trying to make a gardener, a dentist or something else out of him. Don't do it. It's just too tough. It hurts, and the moments of glory are very far between. Well, it's too late for me to turn back, too late for me to become a gardener. I can't bend over the azaleas. Not anymore.
“As a class, Americans are extremely impatient. While they are the first to catch onto a joke, they are also the quickest to get bored. In Europe, a film producer can take his time establishing a mood. He can have dozens of dissolves of clouds. Americans audiences will not sit still for them, no matter how beautiful or exciting they may be. If they show the second cloud shot they expect to see an airplane in it. Then, if there's a third, they expect to see the plane explode in mid-air. The story must progress with every angle.”
Lines from New York Times' coverage of AFI's Life Achievement Award to Billy:
And he worried. The people he would like to thank, he said, ''are all dead now'' - the director Ernst Lubitsch, his early collaborator Charles Brackett, William Holden, Gary Cooper, Tyrone Power, Erich von Stroheim, Gloria Swanson, Humphrey Bogart. Around 11 P.M., dapper and fully in command, the 79-year-old writer-director managed, as usual, to turn his worry into a biting joke. In his acceptance speech, he imagined the movie he could make in heaven starring all those dead actors, with music by Beethoven and 'additional dialogue by W. Shakespeare.' Then, he said, the studio would put it in turnaround.
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