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That's how I like to do it with actors, have them really go for it and I'll tell them when it's too much. It's always easier to bring it back then to push it further.

Alexander Payne

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Alexander Payne
Age: 63
Born: 1961
Born: February 10
Film Director
Film Producer
Screenwriter
Writer
Omaha
Nebraska
Bring
Actors
Tell
Back
Much
Really
Always
Push
Like
Easier

More quotes by Alexander Payne

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If you're not making epic, archetypal films on some level, I think you're wasting a great potential of cinema.
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What science-fiction premises do is it gives you a what-if prism to look at the contemporary world with a wack on the side of the head.
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I like voice-over in films, and most of my films have been voice-over films.
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I always wanted 'Sideways' to be like a great 1960s Italian film.
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I love comedies. I take comedy very seriously as a form. It's a serious form, involving a certain way of looking at life, specifically the painful aspects of life. I get asked, How can you have such failures in your films? Well, what else is life about? There's some sense of constant failure in something. Humor gives you a distance from it.
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In the moment of making films, I want to share my observations of life, not of other films.
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I like actors who, when you see them on screen, you sense a person, not just an actor.
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I want all of my films to belong to me.
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My flag is always flying. My shingle is always out. I'm always looking for movie ideas. The hardest part of this whole movie-making endeavor is finding ideas. That's the real goal.
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I definitely in filmmaking more and more find writing and directing a means to harvest material for editing. It's all about editing.
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I mean, look, I love movies, not just the ones I make... In fact, I don't like the movies I make very much.
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In real life, I myself am kind of a rambling guy. I like to travel.
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The biggest fear I have is to die with regrets, and of course that will come true.
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I'm attracted to short screenplays. Nobody really wants a film to be over two hours, or at least I don't.
Alexander Payne
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The actors are the greatest executors of tone in a film. They're the most important cinematic component.
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When you're a houseguest and you leave, it's nice to straighten something up or send your hosts a useful gift. And when you leave the planet, it's nice to have made a positive contribution.
Alexander Payne
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I don't want all of American cinema to be big cartoons that are just made to be digested by the entire world.
Alexander Payne
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Even if we die at 100, we're still dying young. I want at least 700 years. There's a lot of travelling and books to read and movies to see. I'm not going to squeeze it all in in 85 years.
Alexander Payne
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Hollywood films have become a cesspool of formula and it's up to us to try to change it... I feel like a preacher! But it's really true. I feel personally responsible for the future of American cinema. Me personally.
Alexander Payne
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When I'm introduced as a two-time Oscar winner, I'm happy that a film of mine has found an audience and some acclaim because that keeps me in business. A filmmaker's greatest concern is the ability to make future films, so it helps keep me in business.
Alexander Payne