Filmmaking is a chance to live many lifetimes. Robert Altman More Quotes by Robert Altman More Quotes From Robert Altman I am not an expert. That is someone else's job. If I were expert, the approach would be all wrong. It would be from the inside. I am a blunderer. I usually don't know what I am going into at the start. I go into the fog and trust something will be there. Robert Altman fog experts jobs All of my films deal with the same thing: striving, socially and culturally, to stay alive. Robert Altman strive film alive I never knew what I wanted, except that it was something I hadn't seen before. Robert Altman wanted There was not a lot of dialogue. The titles were just to keep you up. It's the visual stimulation that hits the audience. That's the reason for film. Otherwise, we might as well turn the light out and call it radio. Robert Altman radio light might They'll never give me an Oscar. And I sincerely, honestly don't care. I always turn up when I'm nominated and it would be nice to get one, but to win one would be bad luck. It comes with too much expectation. It would be the end. Robert Altman nice expectations winning I insist that they do what they became actors to do. I want them to create something and not just hit marks and say words. So they all love that because they're playing. It's called playacting. Their contributions are not only welcomed, but are accepted and used. Robert Altman accepted actors want [The Player is] not a truthful indictment of Hollywood. It's much uglier than I portrayed it, but nobody would've been interested if I'd shown just how sadistic, cruel and self-orientated it is. Robert Altman hollywood player self The artist and the multitude are natural enemies. They always will be, both ways. The artist is an enemy of the multitude, and the multitude is the enemy of the artist. And when the disguise comes off and they're both standing facing one another, they're just there at odds end. Robert Altman odds enemy art What is an ending? There's no such thing. Death is the only ending. Robert Altman Your own ego is the only trap that I think you can fall into. Robert Altman ego fall thinking Chance is another name that we give to our mistakes. And all of the best things in my films are mistakes. Robert Altman names mistake giving I love fishing. You put that line in the water and you don't know what's on the other end. Your imagination is under there. Robert Altman fishing sea rivers If you have a child who is seven feet tall, you don't cut off his head or his legs. You buy him a bigger bed and hope he plays basketball. Robert Altman cutting basketball children I have never made a movie that's attracted a 14-year-old boy. Robert Altman made boys years The minute you have more than one voice, you have more possibilities opening up. You have all the molecules in all of those bodies and their make up interacting. Robert Altman molecules opening-up voice Most of my films I call arena films. I deal with a confined area -- an arena -- and I try to cover every aspect of it. Robert Altman arena film trying Happy endings are absolutely ludicrous, they're not true at all. We see the guy carry the girl across the threshold and everybody lives happily ever after -- that's bullshit. Three weeks later he's beating her up and she's suing for divorce and he's got cancer. Robert Altman divorce cancer girl I don't think screenplay writing is the same as writing - I mean, I think it's blueprinting. Robert Altman writing mean thinking I want to see something that I've never seen before, so how can I tell that actor what that is? I'm not trying to construct a document or situation that is what I want, because what I want is something new to me. Robert Altman actors want trying You will never see'Altman's Great Film of the Seventies: The Director's Cut' because you have never seen a film of mine that wasn't the director's cut. I have never permitted it. Robert Altman film cutting directors
