Begin Quote by Alexander Payne

I want all of my films to belong to me.

— Alexander Payne

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

You just never know when you're living in a golden age.

— Alexander Payne

I don't feel despair because I am able to make the films I want to make, and that gives me hope.

— Alexander Payne

Jesuits encourage an intellectual rigor in a way that I like.

— Alexander Payne

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

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

If you have your movies so that everyone understands everything, I think that's probably not a very good movie.

— Alexander Payne

I like actors who, when you see them on screen, you sense a person, not just an actor.

— Alexander Payne

If you're trying to recreate life, the life that you best know is the one you grew up with.

— Alexander Payne

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

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