When you watch a movie, you don't want to feel like a machine made it. You want to feel a soul. — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
I'm attracted to short screenplays. Nobody really wants a film to be over two hours, or at least I don't. — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
My flag is always flying. My shingle is always out. I'm always looking for movie ideas. — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
I mean, look, I love movies, not just the ones I make... In fact, I don't like the movies I make very… — 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 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
I've always approached screenplays and so forth with, "How would it really happen?" Not "What's the movie version?" but "What's the real-life… — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
In a general sense, to convert any short story, novel, play, or opera into a movie, you have to re-rig it. Even… — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
My flag is always flying. My shingle is always out. I'm always looking for movie ideas. The hardest part of this whole… — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
The better a novel is, in literary terms, the more you can't be faithful. The novel succeeds on terms exclusive to literature.… — 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 guess maybe I try to make movies that are closer to real life than are many Hollywood movies. But I still… — 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
A book is a book, but a movie is a movie. The more faithful you are, the more you'll come up with… — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
I'm considered to some degree a successful director working in Hollywood, making films my way but using studio financing. But with almost… — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
I'd love to be a director-for-hire and get a nice paycheck and captain one of those big ships, but I think studios… — Alexander Payne Copy Share Image
Comedy is a wonderful device for distance that allows us to look at what we're talking about with some degree of distance… — 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
I could never be a part of an adaptation of a film where there's pressure to not disappoint the immense fan base.… — 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
