I think even in American schools, they must be studying in a specialized manner. Sergio Leone More Quotes by Sergio Leone More Quotes From Sergio Leone I always fish out antique ideas, very old ideas. Sergio Leone antiquesfishesideas I don't want to do a war film per se. Nor do I want to do a political film. Sergio Leone politicalwantwar I'm terrified by young people who are doing what they think is film making. What they're really doing is taking that convulsed, fast rhythm of commercials. It's not film making. Sergio Leone filmpeoplethinking I admit that some of my ideas may have turned out to be pessimistic in nature. Sergio Leone pessimisticmayideas It's a little hard to avoid putting both war and politics in, in that they both come into the activity, but on their own. My basic idea is to do a great love film set in the hell of 1942. At that moment, hell was Leningrad. Underneath all this, of course, is a film about dissension between the two most important countries in the world, the United States and the Soviet Union. I think it is a must at this point to talk about cooperation instead of the rancor and hatred and competition between nations. Sergio Leone warcountrythinking I had more trouble than I had a sense of utility or satisfaction. But it served to occupy me and to keep me occupied in a field that I love - which was cinema - while I was waiting to realize the film that I wanted to do, which was Once Upon a Time in America, which took ten years of thinking and working to realize. Sergio Leone americayearsthinking What I do is give Ennio Morricone suggestions and describe to him my characters, and then, quite often, he'll possibly write five themes for one character. And five themes for another. And then I'll take one piece of one of them and put it with a piece of another one for that character or take another theme from another character and move it into this character.... And when I have my characters finally dressed, then he composes. Sergio Leone writingcharactermoving Because the life that I live - the life that we all live - is filtered through [one's own] experience. It isn't necessarily optimistic when you look at the political phenomena, the different things that are going on in the world. Sergio Leone live-lifeoptimisticpolitical I think, to go to the bottom of it all, that the films I have made and my kind of film-making is a hybrid type of film-making - in that it isn't American, it isn't Italian. Sergio Leone italiankindthinking America is so varied and exciting that after six months, you go back and find it completely changed. Sergio Leone six-monthsexcitingamerica Charlie Chaplin, too, through spectacle, contraband certain ideas, put them through, ideas that even today are not being expressed by great statesmen and politicians. Sergio Leone politiciantodayideas I must be honest and say that I was under the fascination of films. I was fascinated by all films, even the words of them. If I was to do a more-precise analysis of the situation, I have to admit that I was more entertained by the bad films than the good ones. Because when something is beautiful, it is there; it is finished; it is done. It doesn't have to be touched or be worked upon. Sergio Leone fascinationanalysisbeautiful There's my pessimism. Because I didn't know yet that type of film is always going to become more extinct, that there won't be anymore. Because there will always be more films that win five Oscars like Terms of Endearment. Sergio Leone oscarsfilmwinning The American public is a very specialized public. The reason it is taken as a realistic film is because inside the fable, I've put that kind of reality in. And it could easily be called, instead of Once Upon a Time in America, Once Upon a Time There Was a Certain Kind of Cinema. Because it was also an homage to cinema. Sergio Leone takenrealityamerica The very fact of seeking specialization is probably what makes America so great in these two hundred years. But also, the sensation that somebody who wants to understand America doesn't really need to visit it much. Sergio Leone twoamericayears Just go to Disneyland. You have the impact of how the Americans think, how they dream, what they desire, how they have a good time, what they prefer. I associate this with young people. But many times I think this infantile quality is much better than the false, incomplete concept of adulthood. Sergio Leone impactdreamthinking It is clear that the vehicle of the western was a very interesting vehicle for me to contraband some of my ideas. Sergio Leone vehicleideasinteresting There was also the myth of the western films. But my films are borrowed not from the story of the West in America but from the story of cinema. Sergio Leone cinemastoriesamerica I have to be honest about one thing. When I want to America, no on asked me how I was. Everyone always asked me, "How much do you make?" Sergio Leone honestwantamerica When one goes to see Modern Times, for instance, one understands much more about socialism than listening to the man who was then head of the Socialist movement in Italy. Sergio Leone socialismlisteningmen
