If you're not making epic, archetypal films on some level, I think you're wasting a great potential of cinema. — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
I don't feel despair because I am able to make the films I want to make, and that gives me hope. — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
The worst thing for people to say about your movies is, "Yeah, it was pretty good, but it was too damn long.". — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
If you have your movies so that everyone understands everything, I think that's probably not a very good movie. — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
The kindest thing a director can do is look with open eyes at everything. — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
In a sense, 'Schmidt' is the most Omaha of my films. But have I gotten it right? I'm not sure. Did Fellini… — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
I think a badly crafted, great idea for a new film with a ton of spelling mistakes is just 100 times better… — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
Joe E. Lewis said, 'Money doesn't buy happiness but it calms the nerves.' And that is how I feel about a film… — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
Anytime you cast a movie and you need someone famous in the lead part, you're a prisoner of whoever happens to be… — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
I spend a long time casting, but once I've cast a film there's a reason why I selected those people. So I'm… — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
The novel succeeds on terms exclusive to literature. A good film succeeds on terms exclusive to the cinema. That's why so many… — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
'Independent' means one thing to me: It means that regardless of the source of financing, the director's voice is extremely present. It's… — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
A lot of people get stuck, like, "Oh, if it's made by a studio, it can't be independent." Often they link it… — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
I love comedies. I take comedy very seriously as a form. It's a serious form, involving a certain way of looking at… — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
I think about what movie I would like to see. I don't think of them as a correction or palliative. I certainly… — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
Whenever I'm asked about independent cinema, I think of what Fidel Castro said during the Cold War about the league of non-aligned… — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
Marketing has supplanted story as the primary force behind the worthiness of making a film, and that's a very sad thing. It's… — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
I spend a long time casting, but once I've cast a film there's a reason why I selected those people. So I'm hands-on in… — Alexander Payne Copy Share
I don't feel despair because I am able to make the films I want to make, and that gives me hope. — Alexander Payne Copy Share
Forgiving yourself may be for many people, at least for myself, extremely difficult. And then in a larger context, I will say that I'm… — Alexander Payne Copy Share
In a general sense, to convert any short story, novel, play, or opera into a movie, you have to re-rig it. Even though they're… — Alexander Payne Copy Share
If you have your movies so that everyone understands everything, I think that's probably not a very good movie. — Alexander Payne Copy Share
I like actors who, when you see them on screen, you sense a person, not just an actor. — Alexander Payne Copy Share
If you're trying to recreate life, the life that you best know is the one you grew up with. — Alexander Payne Copy Share
I think about what movie I would like to see. I don't think of them as a correction or palliative. I certainly am irritated… — Alexander Payne Copy Share
If you were falling in love and you could go back in time and relive a day and see the banal things you did… — Alexander Payne Copy Share
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… — Alexander Payne Copy Share
I don't want all of American cinema to be big cartoons that are just made to be digested by the entire world. — Alexander Payne Copy Share
