[The director] has to, I feel, be one step back, not only from cinema, but also from politics and all these issues in order to tell and depict the situation that spreads to people. Sergio Leone More Quotes by Sergio Leone More Quotes From Sergio Leone When I was young, I believed in three things: Marxism, the redemptive power of cinema, and dynamite. Now I just believe in dynamite. Sergio Leone moviehumorousfunny When you manage to express something with a look and the music instead of saying it with words or having the character speak, I think it's a more complete work. Sergio Leone characterlooksthinking Cinema through spectacle, through the entertainment of spectacle, tells the story of many actual problems in life. Because who ever doesn't want to read between the lines can just enjoy the entertainment and the show and can go home happy. Sergio Leone read-between-the-linescinemahome Probably the greatest writer of westerns himself was Homer. His character were never all good or all bad. They're half and half, these characters, as all human beings are. Sergio Leone humanshalfcharacter I've always felt that music is more expressive than dialogue. I've always said that my best dialogue and screenwriter is Ennio Morricone. Because, many times, it is more important a note or an orchestration than a line said. Sergio Leone noteslinesimportant I think that my films are westerns only in their exterior aspects. Within them are some of my truths, which happily, I see, belong to lots of parts of the world. Not just America. Sergio Leone americaworldthinking The important thing is to make a different world, to make a world that is not now. A real world, a genuine world, but one that allows myth to live. The myth is everything. Sergio Leone differentimportantreal My life, my reading, everything about me revolves around the cinema. So for me, cinema is life, and vice-versa. Sergio Leone cinemavicesreading When I go to the cinema, I'm often frustrated because I can guess exactly what is going to happen about ten minutes into the screening. So, when I'm working on a subject, I'm always looking for the element of surprise. Sergio Leone frustratedelementscinema I began to understand that 'America' in reality belonged to the whole world and not just to Americans. The idea of America had already been invented by the philosophers, the vagabonds, the dispersed of this earth, long before the Spanish ships got there. Those whom we call Americans have only rented it for a time. If they behave badly, we can discover another 'America'. The contract can be canceled at any time. Sergio Leone realityamericaideas You see in Once Upon a Time in the West the whole film moves around her [Claudia Cardinale]. If you take her out, there's no more film. She's the central motor of the entire happening. Sergio Leone westonce-upon-a-timemoving Where life had no value, death, sometimes, had its price. That is why the bounty killers appeared. Sergio Leone killerssuicidedeath An important Italian critic once gave Fistful of Dollars a very bad review when it came out. Then he went to the university here [Rome] with Once Upon a Time in America. We showed it to 10,000 students. And while the man was speaking that day to the students, with me present, he said, "I have to state one thing. When I gave that review about Sergio's films, I should have taken into account that on Sergio Leone's passport, there should not be written whether the nationality is Italian or anything else. What should be written is: 'Nationality: Cinema.' " Sergio Leone italiantakenmen I had always thought that the 'good,' and the 'bad' and the 'violent' did not exist in any absolute, essential sense. It seemed to me interesting to demystify these adjectives in the setting of a Western. An assassin can display a sublime altruism while a good man can kill with total indifference. Sergio Leone sublimemeninteresting There are directors, and there are authors. I think I am more of an author than a director. Sergio Leone directorsthinking America interests me above all because it is so filled with contradictions, interesting contradictions, which change constantly. Even if you've decided that you don't want to deal with that subject again, before you know it, the desire comes back to do it yet again. Sergio Leone desireamericainteresting It's very easy with the camera to show the positive side of something. Sergio Leone cameraseasysides It's very difficult to be original. Sergio Leone difficultoriginals The best photographers are super nice people and that its not a coincidence. Great photographers genuinely like people, and people can feel that. That's what makes people feel comfortable. It is important to appear confident with clients, but it is more important to not be afraid to act like a fool, have fun, laugh and shake your hips to get people comfortable. Sergio Leone nicephotographyfun When I used a woman in my films or wrote a woman into my film, I wanted her to be a central point and a motivating point or a catalyst to function in the film. Sergio Leone catalystfilmused
