Alexander Payne quotes

Born
February 10, 1961, Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.

Occupation
Director, screenwriter, producer.

Alexander Payne is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer.  He is best known for films such as Citizen Ruth, About Schmidt (2002), Sideways (2004), The Descendants (2011), and Downsizing (2007). He has been nominated for several Academy Awards, winning for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Descendants (2011).

Movies
About Schmidt (2002)
Downsizing (2007)
Sideways (2004)
The Descendants (2011)

What is filmmaking but groping in the dark?
– Alexander Payne

I definitely in filmmaking more and more find writing and directing a means to harvest material for editing. It’s all about editing.
– Alexander Payne

I’m attracted to short screenplays. Nobody really wants a film to be over two hours, or at least I don’t.
– Alexander Payne

You just never know when you’re living in a golden age.
– Alexander Payne

A pitfall of making a comedy with a studio-and it’s also an American cultural thing-is that I get tired of being encouraged to go always for laughs.
– Alexander Payne

There is an audience out there for literate films – slower, more observant, more human films, and they deserve to be made.
– Alexander Payne

The biggest fear I have is to die with regrets, and of course that will come true.
– Alexander Payne

I think cynicism lasts. Sentimentality ages, dates quickly.
– Alexander Payne

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

The best cinema is about ethics.
– Alexander Payne

This is how good movies get made and always have: from the gut instinct of the financiers, not just by committee and research.
– Alexander Payne

I think a badly crafted, great idea for a new film with a ton of spelling mistakes is just 100 times better than a well-crafted stale script.
– Alexander Payne

When you watch a movie, you don’t want to feel like a machine made it. You want to feel a soul.
– Alexander Payne

The kindest thing a director can do is look with open eyes at everything.
– Alexander Payne

The hardest part of this whole movie-making endeavor is finding ideas.
– Alexander Payne