Top 98 Quotes & Sayings by Dean Devlin

Most young American actors feel like teenagers.

The movie business is not something that can come from the brain. It really comes from the soul and the heart.

We're often accused of trying to manipulate opinion or that we're trying to elevate society. I think that the greatest thing we can do is to give you a vacation.

The advantage of the Genesis is that it's a rock-solid camera, made by a company with an enormous history and a huge support base. Plus, it's very good in low light using all the Panavision lenses. The downside is that you're recording on tape.

When I tried to get 'Stargate' made, I took it to every studio in Hollywood and every studio said, 'Sci-fi is dead. It's a dead genre. No one wants to see science fiction anymore.' And I had to go and raise the money independently to make that movie.

There are three things that I'm addicted to when it comes to entertainment. In no particular order, One, I'm addicted to the cheer moment. 'Librarians' has plenty of them. Next, I feel that life is hard, and I want my entertainment fun, and 'Librarians' is fun as a Christmas party. And third, I like to be moved.

There are amazing behind-the-scenes technicians in Portland who didn't want to raise their families in L.A.

'Leverage' is meant to be based in Boston. But in one episode we're in New York, then another in Chicago, Florida, and Eastern Europe.

We've always had a simple philosophy in casting. We don't care if somebody's a big star or a little star. We just want the best possible actor for the part.

It's fun to watch a show that you can watch with any member of your family, and you're going to laugh, and you're going to be moved, and you're going to have fun, rather than this dark, brooding, cold, 'purely procedural show.'

I don't think these weather conditions are going to get better on their own.

'The Outpost' is an exciting fantasy with a strong female lead that will capture the imagination of fans of both 'Game of Thrones' and 'Wonder Woman.'

In the '70s, you didn't know who was going to survive in a disaster film.

I think there's a lot of factors that go into the whole awards thing. I've never been that big a fan of it.

We're so specialized now in our entertainment. It's nice to do a show where you're really circling back to this idea of, 'Couldn't there be a show the whole family can watch together?'

We have to put people on pedestals; otherwise, there's no one to knock off pedestals.

In the '80s, all the movies became predictable.

In Portland, there are so many trained artists and technicians, there's an enormous talent base. And it's not like second-stringers.

Usually when you're doing a season one, you're trying to find the show.

'Stargate' has always had this empty hole. When we made the first one, we always intended on doing part two and three, and we were prevented for years. And our hope is that we can get another chance at 'Stargate' and tell the entire story we wanted to tell.

Portland is a two-hour flight from L.A. It has wonderful talent, and it hasn't been shot to death. I'm all in favor of it becoming a serious player in the industry.

I think we have a culture that creates heroes and then needs to knock them down, and then you have to see what the third act brings.

Portland has all the accoutrements of a big city, but the heart and soul of it is a small town, so that creates an intimacy in a large environment.

That transcends everything - skipping the transfer of dailies is a game-changer.

I love what they do with 'Doctor Who,' where they have the series, and then they do a big Christmas movie special.

The Titanic hit the iceberg not because they could not see it coming but because they could not change direction.

Kurt Russell is the guy you know. He's not something out of a weight-lifting magazine or a cartoon character. The closest thing to him would have been Steve McQueen.

Filmmaking is a real democracy - it's up to the audience to vote with their tickets.

Many years ago, I was actually hired to write the sequel to 'Independence Day.' And I wrote a sequel. And they paid me a boatload of money to go write this thing. And after I wrote it, I read it and I gave them back the money and I said, 'Look, this is an okay movie I just wrote. But it's not worthy of the sequel to 'Independence Day.'

We all want our children to be terrific, but you can't force a child into being what you want it to be.

I hope to make the most expensive movie in history at some point!

We are cannibalizing our audience by only giving them regurgitated material. Every movie is either a remake, a sequel, based on something else. Based on a former television series. Based on a successful videogame.

The scale of 'Independence Day' is much more than 'Stargate.'

Paramount Pictures is a perfect partner for Electric Entertainment, with the most stable group of executives in Hollywood and unparalleled global promotion and distribution reach.

Television is like speed chess, as you have no time and no money. It is like trying to play Grandmaster chess with a 20 minute timer. The rewards are great, though, as it moves faster and you get to see the finished results much quicker.

John Rogers has an encyclopedic mind. Having John as our showrunner is the gift that keeps on giving. He knows more trivial information than anyone I've ever met in my entire life.

We make movies that crack us up and hope that they crack up other people, too.

We used to call them the storm of the century but now we're seeing what happens if we don't act fast enough - and real human beings are suffering because of that.

There's a lot of superhero stuff out there and a lot of cop stuff out there. What we have very little of anymore is adventure.

The days of family entertainment seem to have left us.

The budget on cable television is dramatically less than network television.

There's no doubt in the world that I am the biggest 'Doctor Who' fan.

It was somewhere in doing the last season of 'Leverage' that John Rogers and I became confident that we had developed an all-new production technique where we could put more on the screen with very little money. So we started to get more comfortable with the idea of trying to tackle 'The Librarians.'

We're making high-budget movies with a low-budget attitude.

There was no studio involved when we made 'Stargate.' It was financed through Le Studio Canal+ in France and, after the film was finished, it was sold to MGM. When the film was a success, MGM decided to do a television series based on the movie.

I know I screwed up my 'Godzilla.'

I think if we did 'Stargate' right, the fans would like it, and we could do something really good. But if we screw it up, they'll reject it. As they should.

'Stargate' was more a fantasy.

The great thing about adventure, when told correctly, is it is one of the few genres that everybody in the family can watch together.

I would love it if the whole 'Godzilla' franchise was revitalized for a new generation.

I always wish I had another shot at it. But, listen, 'Godzilla' is something that I grew up loving. We worked hard to go make one. We kind of blew it. I think everyone gets one.

I think when real life interrupts fantasy, it's always shocking.

That's one of the best things about the RED ONE - I can use all the best lenses that have been used in film forever.

As for 'Independence Day,' we never intended to do any films in that series beyond the first one.

I like to get emotional when I watch my entertainment.

In tough times, we all hope for knights in shining armor, or the cavalry, to show up and effect change.

'The Book of Love' is the kind of James L. Brooks mainstream movie that the majors are ignoring.

'Librarians' is surprisingly touching in a lot of ways where it's not expected.

I can tell you as a fact that if you'd asked anyone in Hollywood one year before 'Pirates of the Caribbean' had come out, they'd have told you the pirate movie was a dead genre. And it's not that it's a dead genre. If you make a bad pirate movie, no one will want to see it. If you make a good one, everyone will want to see it.

Following a pre-cellphone world of children on an adventure is incredibly appealing for me. These are the kinds of movies I fell in love with and made me want to be a filmmaker in the first place.