James Ivory

You can't make up Timothee Chalamet to look, say, 40. That would be terrible!

— James Ivory

I like a lot of good dialogue if it is well-acted.

— James Ivory

A lot of directors don't bother to go back and look at their films, but I do.

— James Ivory

This may sound corny, but I've always liked to make things that were beautiful.

— James Ivory

Love is the absolute basis of my career.

— James Ivory

The conscious decision, early on, was that I was going to live in New York. That was it.

— James Ivory

I found in making and directing films that the less you have voiceover, the better it is.

— James Ivory

I never work on a computer. I can't write on a computer. It's just not possible for me to do that.

— James Ivory

I've never had to search for themes. My films just come naturally out of my interest.

— James Ivory

Maybe there's something in the Oregon character that pushed me into the kind of life that I took up.

— James Ivory

I've seen it happen with other directors. Sometimes there's a period where, if they're lucky, they get the financing where they can…

— James Ivory

Most of my films are set in an upper-middle-class world of well-off people who may have all kinds of emotional problems, but…

— James Ivory

I love a well composed shot. It doesn't necessarily have to be beautiful, but it must be well composed.

— James Ivory

It's important to see the work of as many directors as possible but you must not become self-conscious. You have to accept…

— James Ivory

I learned to paint in a historical method. First through watercolours and then through oil. Then, when I went to college and…

— James Ivory

My 22-minute film, which I called 'The Sword and the Flute', turned out to be a romantic film about India made by…

— James Ivory

In India, I tried never to show enthusiasm for the things I wanted most, but instead to focus it falsely on something…

— James Ivory

There's a cabin in Oregon I go to, which belonged to my parents. It's never been winterized. It's not a place you…

— James Ivory

But our writer, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - it was very much in her mind. After we had done 'A Room With a…

— James Ivory

When you tell a film financier that you want to do a Shakespeare film, their face drops. Shakespeare films don't have a…

— James Ivory

My father built me a theatre behind the house where I could put on plays. Dear me, I'm making it sound a…

— James Ivory

When I was doing the screenplay, people who read the book Call Me by Your Name would go, "Oh god, what are…

— James Ivory

Lately, I've discovered the Hellenistic bronzes. I'd never really thought about them much, but then there was this marvelous exhibition - many…

— James Ivory

I wanted to make a movie once at Lake of the Woods, where my parents had a cabin, which I now have.…

— James Ivory

I just read an article about how young American males feel uncomfortable appearing naked in front of each other in locker rooms.…

— James Ivory

One of the challenges in writing the script Call Me by Your Name was that I had to find something concrete for…

— James Ivory

See, nobody understood how we were able to make a film like 'A Room With a View' so cheaply, for about $3.2…

— James Ivory

It's always a matter of convincing the insurance people. They seem to think that after a certain age, you're just going to…

— James Ivory

You know, a lot of people give up their religion, but, oh, my goodness, they go through such agonies. I never did.

— James Ivory

Maurice' was a groundbreaking film. People didn't feel that then but looking back everyone says that.

— James Ivory

My interest in India began with my interest in Indian painting and music and that grew.

— James Ivory

You know, if the filmmakers were satisfied with the film they just made, they could jump right in and make another one,…

— James Ivory

Did I develop any ruses of my own in order to buy what I wanted at a reasonable price? In time, of…

— James Ivory

A director must be patient and unflappable. I think I was always pretty relaxed. I don't find shooting as traumatic as some…

— James Ivory

I went to Europe in '52 or '53, and when I came back, I stopped in New York. I remember looking out…

— James Ivory

Lots have said since what the film Maurice meant to gay men. I had a guy in New York who recognized me…

— James Ivory

I think the Merchant Ivory brand really means literate dialogue. I think it starts with that. When people say something, you know…

— James Ivory

Political consequences have never really come into my thinking. I didn't think about it when we made 'Maurice' or when I said…

— James Ivory

When I grew up there weren't any sort of terrible things that happened. I had very understanding friends and my parents didn't…

— James Ivory

In October 1959, I could scarcely wait to get off the plane that had brought me to New Delhi so that I…

— James Ivory