Quotes by Alexander Payne

About Alexander Payne:

Alexander Payne is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer, known for the films Citizen Ruth (1996), Election (1999), About Schmidt (2002), Sideways (2004), The Descendants (2011), and Nebraska (2013). His films are noted for their dark humor and satirical depictions of contemporary American society. Payne is a two time winner of the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and a three time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

You just never know when you're living in a golden age.

Alexander Payne

The best cinema is about ethics.

Alexander Payne

If you're trying to recreate life, the life that you best know is the one you grew up with.

Alexander Payne

The best actors are always the ones who've directed as well, as they understand all the problems you face.

Alexander Payne

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.

Alexander Payne

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

I don't feel despair because I am able to make the films I want to make, and that gives me hope.

Alexander Payne

Joe E. Lewis said, 'Money doesn't buy happiness but it calms the nerves.' And that is how I feel about a film being well-received.

Alexander Payne

I think a badly crafted, great idea for a new film with a ton of spelling mistakes is just 100 times better than a well-crafted stale script.

Alexander Payne

I always wanted 'Sideways' to be like a great 1960s Italian film.

Alexander Payne

The most heinous shift in American films is that they reinforce good things like 'couples' and 'relationships.'

Alexander Payne

I don't think so much about verbal comedy. I always think about visual comedy. I was raised watching silents, and I'm always thinking about how to make cinema, not good talking - although I want good talking. I'm much more interested in framing, comp...

Alexander Payne

I'm hoping one day I can make one really good film.

Alexander Payne

The novel succeeds on terms exclusive to literature. A good film succeeds on terms exclusive to the cinema. That's why so many bad novels can become good movies, like 'Jaws' or 'The Godfather.'

Alexander Payne

The biggest fear I have is to die with regrets, and of course that will come true.

Alexander Payne

Anytime you cast a movie and you need someone famous in the lead part, you're a prisoner of whoever happens to be famous in the six-month window in which you're trying to get a film financed.

Alexander Payne

Well, that's what life is - this collection of extraordinarily ordinary moments. We just need to pay attention to them all. Wake up and pay attention to how beautiful it all is.

Alexander Payne

Life mixes tones all the time.

Alexander Payne

In the moment of making films, I want to share my observations of life, not of other films.

Alexander Payne

I guess maybe I try to make movies that are closer to real life than are many Hollywood movies. But I still try to stay within a commercial narrative, a contemporary American vernacular.

Alexander Payne

Author Bio

  • NameAlexander Payne
  • DescriptionAmerican film director and screenwriter
  • BornFebruary 10, 1961
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionScreenwriter; Film Director; Film Producer; Writer
  • AwardsWriters Guild Of America Award