A Quote by Alexander Payne

The worst thing for people to say about your movies is, "Yeah, it was pretty good, but it was too damn long.". — © Alexander Payne
The worst thing for people to say about your movies is, "Yeah, it was pretty good, but it was too damn long.".
In the early days, Porter Wagoner would not exactly scold me, but he's say, 'You're writing too many damn verses. You're makin' these songs too damn long.' And I'd say, 'Yeah, but I'm tellin' a story. I have a story to tell.' And he'd say, 'Well, you're not going to get it on the radio.' If I start writing a song, I'm writing it for a reason. People would say that I had to have two verses, and a chorus, and a bridge. I tried to learn that formula.
The worst thing a kid can say about homework is that it is too hard. The worst thing a kid can say about a game is it's too easy.
My daddy used to say that I was too big to ride and too little to hitch a wagon - no good for a damn thing.
I think I could probably make $5 to $10m movies for a very long time and live a perfectly good life doing it. I'd probably get paid as well as a surgeon, which is pretty damn remarkable for a guy who went to film school.
I have to say, Any Given Sunday was good, but it was too ambitious. You can't do everything in three hours. It went on through ownership issues, quarterback issues, the running back issues, LT issues, and all that, even the coach issues. It was too much. Whereas, Playmakers says, Yeah, you got all those problems, but my god, you're playing football, you're doing the best thing in the world. You're playing football, you're having fun, you're getting paid to play a game. Well, with all the bad things about Hollywood all the drug use, all that, it's still a pretty good life.
You know," I said, holding my ground. "I gotta tell you. The goatee thing? Yeah, way over. And you know a little jewelry really does go a long way. Just something you might want to consider. I'm actually glad you stopped by, because I have a couple things I've been meaning to say to you. Number one, about your wife? Yeah, she's a skank. And number two, you know that whole thing where you killed Jesse and then buried his remains out back there? Yeah, way un-cool.
I play this game to be the best, and it doesn't matter what other people say, I think I'm pretty damn good.
There's nothing more exciting than to have a project that you like, that you're proud of, and you're waiting for that validation for the world to see it and say, "Yeah! You know what? That was pretty damn funny!"
I have a high range. Sometimes I sound like Stevie Winwood. Some people say I sound like Peter Gabriel. Some of the songs I write are funky. Others are slow. Some are ponderous, and some are there to shock. I must say some are pretty damn good, too.
You just have to say, 'It’s pretty damn good. I am right here at the moment and I’m OK with it. I've got other things to think about.'
I learned a long time ago that not becoming friendly with the people you write about is a way to maintain your freedom to say whatever you damn well please.
I've always felt that if you pay your bills and can take care of yourself without too much stress, then it's a pretty damn good life.
That's the worst thing for an actor: when you say to someone, "Yeah, I was in that movie," and they say, "You were?"
Although he appeared in some awful movies, Elvis could also be pretty damn good as an actor.
I often envy a filmmaker or a playwright or an author where people are like, "Yeah, I sat down every night and read your book and it was beautiful." Or, "Yeah, I went to the movies and all I did was watch the movie because that's all you could do at the movies." Where with music, it's like, "Ugh, I love your music. I listen to it while I'm jogging thinking about how I hate my body." But it is also the privilege of being a musician is you can have your music in this documented form and play it live and that's, I think, what draws me to it the most.
I don't know if it's fair to say that it's a bad time for movies. It seems to me that throughout the entire history of filmmaking, every year there have been about two really wonderful movies, about 10 others that are pretty good, and a whole pile of garbage.
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