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I want to see something that I've never seen before, so how can I tell that actor what that is? I'm not trying to construct a document or situation that is what I want, because what I want is something new to me.

Robert Altman

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Robert Altman
Age: 81 †
Born: 1925
Born: February 20
Died: 2006
Died: November 20
Film Director
Film Editor
Film Producer
Librettist
Screenwriter
Theatrical Director
Writer
Kansas City
Missouri
Actors
Tell
Document
Trying
Construct
Something
Constructs
Never
Documents
Actor
Seen
Situation

More quotes by Robert Altman

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Making a movie is like chipping away at a stone. You take a piece off here, you take a piece off there and when you're finished, you have a sculpture. You know that there's something in there, but you're not sure exactly what it is until you find it.
Robert Altman
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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
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I've had it-the agencies, the winking, the networks, the ratings. Anyone who thinks TV is an art medium is crazy-it's an advertising medium.
Robert Altman
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If George W. Bush is elected president, I'm leaving for France.
Robert Altman
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I have never made a movie that's attracted a 14-year-old boy.
Robert Altman
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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
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Why should I keep doing things that I've done before?
Robert Altman
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Titanic I thought was the most dreadful piece of work I've ever seen in my entire life. Another film that I think is equally bad was American Beauty. So badly acted and directed. But people like that.
Robert Altman
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[M*A*S*H] didn't get released by FOX, it escaped.
Robert Altman
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Retirement? You're talking about death, right?
Robert Altman
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What is an ending? There's no such thing. Death is the only ending.
Robert Altman
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I was a heavy drinker, but the alcohol affected my heart rather than my liver. So I stopped. I smoke grass now. I say that to everybody, because marijuana should be legalized. It's ridiculous that it isn't. If at the end of the day I feel like smoking a joint I do it. It changes the perception of what I've been through all day.
Robert Altman
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I've never had a big hit movie. MASH was probably the biggest. I don't make those kind of films, and I never have. I wish each one of them would just do billions of dollars worth of ticket sales, but they never do and they never will.
Robert Altman
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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
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I like audiences to crane their necks.
Robert Altman
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There was not a lot of dialogue. The titles were just to keep you up. It's the visual stimulation that hits the audience. That's the reason for film. Otherwise, we might as well turn the light out and call it radio.
Robert Altman
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If you have a child who is seven feet tall, you don't cut off his head or his legs. You buy him a bigger bed and hope he plays basketball.
Robert Altman
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The Oscar for the films, it'd be nice. But I don't make those kind of films, and I don't think that will ever happen.
Robert Altman
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Chance is another name that we give to our mistakes. And all of the best things in my films are mistakes.
Robert Altman
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We make too much of the good and too much of the bad.
Robert Altman