54 Quotes by Anna Karina

We did not see ourselves as remaking cinema at the time, at least not in my view. Myself and the other actors were not part of the industry; we weren't inside the star system. We were running around, shooting in the streets, hiding behind trees to do our makeup. It was a very simple way of working.

I left school when I was 14 to go into Danish films. When I was 17, I went to Paris to make my fortune.

I'm always playing mostly the nice girl or the victim. I think it's perhaps what directors think about me.

We didn't have a script, but with Jean-Luc we didn't really need one. It was like an understanding between us. He would say, 'Anna, a little bit quicker or a little bit slower.' That was all. We didn't do a lot of retakes. With some other actors I know he would do a lot of retakes, but not with me.

Jean-Luc didn't like me to say any bad words in real life, and I would always do it on purpose, just for fun. And he would go crazy! Then he had Brigitte Bardot do just that in 'Contempt.' And in that film she also has this line - 'I want red velvet curtains, or nothing at all in the apartment' - which was something I would always say.

Everyone thinks that Jean-Luc is an intellectual. But he's very a sportive person too. He likes action. He likes people to be physical in their roles. They had to move a lot.

You know, for a painter, I was an assistant, and then he knew a lot of movie people. So, how do you say in English, I was an extra. I'm in a lot of Danish pictures as an extra.

The very first picture that I did, the director came up to me on the street - I was 14 at the time - and asked me if I would be in a short film that he was doing called 'Pigen og Skoene,' which means 'The Girl with the Shoes,' which is a funny title but that is how it is.

I was lucky enough to meet and marry Jean-Luc who is responsible for any education and culture I have today.