A Quote by Patti Smith

Those were the things on my mind [stay healthy, take care of my kids and reestablish a relationship with the people], not career, money, drugs, sex, alcohol or fun. Not that there's anything wrong with any of those things, but they aren't in the film [Dream of Life], because that wasn't my life at the time.
Steven [Sebring] was documenting me as a widow with two children, going from 50 to 60 years old. My focus, during that time, was to rediscover myself, stay healthy, take care of my kids and reestablish a relationship with the people.
There are so many things that can take over your life: money, alcohol, drugs - even fashion. People hand you things, and you start to believe life is easy. And it's not like that - you're not supposed to be the person you play in the movies.
I've never valued material things. I've always been more attached to people. The pursuit of material things takes time, and I realized my time is very valuable especially during the season. My time with my kids, what I do to take care of my body, and of course any intellectual pursuits I may have on the side. Those are all things that I value.
Life holds many, many, many mysteries, abstract things we all think about. In a film when things get abstract, some people don't appreciate that and they want to leave the theater. Others love to dream, get lost, try to figure things out. I'm one of those people. I like a film, a story that holds concrete things but also abstractions. So when ideas come along that have those things, I'm falling in love and going to work.
When you do something that people watch and enjoy as children, that's great because it stays with you, throughout your life. The things you loved as a child stay with you, and so do the people who were in those things.
I thank the Lord that, even though things were so wrong in my life here, I finally was brought to the realization of what all those struggles were about. There are some wonderful things from your painful past, things with a beauty you may not have realized at the time.
I was fortunate. And I hate using the word lucky, but I was very, very lucky. Because, all of those things were around me man. The violence, the drugs, the abuse of women. All these things were present in my life. And I take a step back and I try to reflect on my journey and what helped me out.
I'm a fan of Bill Hicks. He did things that no other stand up did at the time. He was making fun of religion, at that time it was a lot harder to say those things in the States than it was here. To slag off Christianity and fundamentalist Christians, and to be pro drugs and anti gun in the deep south, that's a big ask. And he did that and made it funny. Bill Hicks was able to say things that he really thought, and he managed to make those thoughts funny without a care if it antagonised people.
Sadly most films only get exposure if they win an award or were in a festival, which is really difficult because those things cost money! Submitting your film to a festival or campaigning for an Oscar or a Golden Globe is very expensive. Most people don't know that, but all those events require a lot of money. If you have a small independent film, it's very hard to get the attention of people in those circles.
I'm a recovered alcoholic. I don't do anything anymore, but those things, those things take away ... You're a different personality completely when you take those. For those who are really chemically dependent on anything, it's not you.
I know there is an opportunity to make some money and have a life-changing effect on me and those things are great. I don't take those things for granted whatsoever, but my focus is really on my craft.
That's how people make sense of a meeting: they eat something. If they were in a sad moment it would be the same thing, they'd be eating something. It's what makes life fun. We don't need it to be delicious or great or all these things if we're just to survive. But it's one of those things that makes life fun, livable. And the more I submerge myself in it, the more fun I seem to have.
I rank money higher than social life or meaning because once you have money, those other things are easier to get. For example, you won't have much of a social life if you can't afford to do anything. And you can't make money if your health is a mess.
Chasing the sensation. Whether it was drugs or sex or whatever. Those things had become my main focus in life.
I think those moments in Patti's [Smith] bedroom really helped the film [Dream of Life] out, and those moments existed because of the trust between us. There isn't any real self-consciousness in the film because we all like each other.
Don't expect anything from anybody, this is also a great freedom. Don't expect things to be different or people to be in service to you or your own life or projections. Feel gradually that natural feeling of detachment. Dont watch constantly with the eyes of relationship and past and so on. Stay faithful to your own discovery, leave the rest and life will take care of it.
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