It [film-making] really just has to do with my own ghosts and phantoms. And I have to say, in the end, it's just my way of seeing things. Sergio Leone More Quotes by Sergio Leone More Quotes From Sergio Leone I never worry about what they think about me. Because I feel so far away from what my Italian colleagues have done that I almost automatically become an isolated director. Sergio Leone italianworrythinking The world is in America. In Italy is only Italy. France is full of France. Germany is full of Germany. In a continent that contains the entire world, contradictions are, of course, constantly arising. Sergio Leone germanyamericaworld It is hard to do a film that wants to say something because, unfortunately, most everything has been said. Sergio Leone filmwantsaid From Ennio [Morricone] I ask for themes that clothe my characters easily. He's never read a script of mine to compose the music, because many times he's composed the music before the script is ever written. Sergio Leone themescriptscharacter In my childhood, America was like a religion. Then, real-life Americans abruptly entered my life - in jeeps - and upset all my dreams. Sergio Leone realdreamamerica The function of the flashback is Freudian...You have to let them wander like the imagination or like a dream. Sergio Leone functionimaginationdream Especially in gangster films, with the gangster's moll - she would always be more or less of an object. And I'm not convinced of this theory. Because I think even gangsters' women have brains. They think and even, as we say, have balls. Sergio Leone ballsbrainthinking I can't see America any other way than with a European's eyes. It fascinates me and terrifies me at the same time. Sergio Leone scaryeyeamerica I've seen films that have made as much as $100, $200 million, but they're not films. They're images. They're flashes. They're many beautiful images, lots of things to look at. They capture you. But it's not a film. It's not something that involves you in a story. They go to cinema now to be blown away by the effects. Sergio Leone cinemabeautifullooks I've always believed that true cinema is cinema of the imagination. Sergio Leone always-believecinemaimagination I am searching as Diogenes did with his lantern for all of these wonderful human beings. I haven't found them yet. Sergio Leone humansfoundwonderful My films are often characterized by the lack of women present in them, except for this last one [Once Upon a Time in America]. Sergio Leone lastsonce-upon-a-timeamerica If there is an auteur who influenced me - and there is only one - that is Charlie Chaplin. And he never won an Oscar. Sergio Leone auteurschaplinoscars I had never thought of making a western even as I was making it. Sergio Leone western Even when I read a book, if the book leaves me the possibility of finding certain solutions or working on my own toward a solution, I prefer that much more than if the book fills me with the answers, gives them to me directly. Sergio Leone answersgivingbook I consciously chose a person like the bounty killer [of the Fistful trilogy] because he was the street sweeper of the desert, a man who put his life at risk exclusively for the money. I'm not saying that he went against the law, but he put himself within the wings of the law only when it was something that he could profit by. Sergio Leone lawwingsmen I was born with this bow tie made of celluloid on my collar. Sergio Leone bowsbornties It's difficult to find new solicitations, new expressions. But this is talking about filmmaking. Cinema. Sergio Leone cinemaexpressiontalking The American public is a very specialized public. Sergio Leone I really do believe that the Jesuit system is better for a country. Sergio Leone jesuitbelievecountry
