New York was big enough and wide enough that it allowed for reasonably eccentric people like me to thrive. It was a perfect place for me. Robert Benton More Quotes by Robert Benton More Quotes From Robert Benton My next film is always shaped by the last one... by the things I feel I didn't get right, or the things I like and want to try to develop further, but it always comes out of the last picture. Robert Benton lasts want trying Twilight is about getting older and relationships - not about a murder mystery. It's about love when you reach a certain age; nothing is in primary colors. Robert Benton murder-mysteries color twilight Movies without meaningful dialogue play well all over the world. The Apostle is probably the best movie of the year, but it won't do squat in Korea. Robert Benton play meaningful years Style is the most ephemeral thing I know. It's not about how effective you are it's about how you are effective. Robert Benton style ephemeral knows I'd like to know what law is it that says that a woman is a better parent, simply by virtue of her sex. Robert Benton parent law sex My education was an education by movies. Robert Benton I was dyslexic before anybody knew what dyslexia was. I was called 'slow'. It's an awful feeling to think of yourself as 'slow' - it's horrible. Robert Benton awful feelings thinking In America, people rarely stay in the town where they grew up, rarely stay in close proximity to their parents throughout their lives. You rarely find parents in their old age being taken care of by their children. Robert Benton taken children america All my life I've felt like somebody's wife, or somebody's mother or somebody's daughter. Even all the time we were together, I never knew who I was. And that's why I had to go away. And in California, I think I found myself. Robert Benton daughter mother thinking Style and taste do not have anything to do with the other. It's the difference between wit and humor. Robert Benton style differences taste The greatest style is when you can't see the style though you walk away knowing it was there. It's like a perfume - there but not there. Robert Benton perfume style knowing Style is a way of talking about yourself. Robert Benton style talking way Style tells you a lot more about the truth than substance, because it comes at the truth in an oblique way, it comes in on a slant, it doesn't tell you what it is. It's unexpected and it makes you laugh and think. Robert Benton style laughing thinking People who go for humor are wonderful because they do great humor. People who go for wit and end up with humor are people who have made a mistake. Robert Benton mistake wonderful people After the war, photography came alive, in part because everybody started to use the 35mm camera, and worked on the street instead of in a studio, and that made an enormous difference in not only how photographs looked, but what they were about. Robert Benton differences photography war The thing I loved the most about being art director was picking the photographers and working with them. Robert Benton photographer directors art Movie narration in the forties was radically different than the narrative involved in books. Robert Benton narrative different book Everybody thought New York was this hard, cruel place, and I found it to be an extraordinarily wonderful place filled with the most interesting people. Robert Benton new-york people interesting Although I had a few jobs that I didn't like, or quit, or got fired from, I really loved New York from the moment I got here and I never stopped. Robert Benton quitting new-york jobs There was a kind of cultural life in New York that wasn't as solidified as it is now, it wasn't as money-driven. If you look at the size of the successful art galleries compared to the size of galleries now - there was no such thing as the Gagosian Gallery or Pace Gallery. But it was a time when magazines were a vital part of American life, and Esquire gave me a free pass to every world - I could get to the art world, the theater world, the movie world. It allowed you to roam through the cultural life of New York City. Robert Benton successful new-york art
