ROBERT ALTMAN QUOTES II

American film director & screenwriter (1925-2006)

I was scared that no one would hire me. At that time, there was still a stigma attached to it. A big stigma. Actually, I think I was healthier after the operation than some people who have bypass surgery because I was completely cured. But when you mentioned "heart transplant," you got a very negative reaction. It triggered people's imaginations, and not in a good way.

ROBERT ALTMAN

Star Tribune, Jun. 4, 2006


Filmmaking is a chance to live many lifetimes.

ROBERT ALTMAN

attributed, The Screenwriter's Sourcebook


If something works for you, you continue to do it. I did a bunch of pictures for 20th Century Fox when Alan Ladd was over there, but I set the budgets so low that they'd approve and I'd deliver the film. They would have no say in it, which is the kind of arrangement I liked.

ROBERT ALTMAN

Stop Smiling, issue #23


I like audiences to crane their necks.

ROBERT ALTMAN

"Still up to Mischief", The Guardian, Apr. 30, 2004


I don't know what "Altmanesque" means, though I suppose I'm flattered by it.

ROBERT ALTMAN

interview, Total Film: The Modern Guide to Movies, Mar. 15, 2004


Why should I keep doing things that I've done before?

ROBERT ALTMAN

interview, Stumped Magazine


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

Esquire, Mar. 2004

Tags: fishing, imagination


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

Star Tribune, Jun. 4, 2006

Tags: acting


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

"Still up to Mischief", The Guardian, Apr. 30, 2004


People have asked me throughout the years which directors have influenced me. I don't know their names, because I was mostly influenced when I'd see a film and think, "Man, I want to be sure to never do anything like that." So I never learned their names. It wasn't a matter of copying or emulating somebody I admired. It was getting rid of a lot of stuff.

ROBERT ALTMAN

Stop Smiling, issue #23


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

interview, Total Film: The Modern Guide to Movies, Mar. 15, 2004


We make too much of the good and too much of the bad.

ROBERT ALTMAN

Esquire, Mar. 2004