127 Quotes by Edward Zwick

I don't think it's a prize when actors and directors or writers and actors work together more than once. You have a trust and a shorthand and a lot of times you even reach the point, where in the process, you don't even have to talk.

I maintain that no movie can be funny enough. I mean even the most serious, even the most intense movie and I know enough about life to know in those dark moments inevitably someone will say something funny and I will be part of the whole experience.

And how deeply do I let business considerations affect [screenwriting] choices that might otherwise be more or less esthetic? . . . Do I choose the upbeat rather than the downer ending because I know it will score better at the preview? Can the idea be sold in a single sentence? Can it compete with space aliens and tornadoes and missions impossible?

However much I may like to talk about or be interested in a more philosophical or moral agenda, [film] is, ultimately, about narrative. And it's about telling stories that are engaging and dramatic.

It's always great to do a movie that you find is entertaining, but also can give some sort of political or social message.

You do these movies, you give it out to the world and you really have no idea how people are going to react to you.

I don’t think movies can ever be too intense, but people have to understand why you’re showing them the things you are showing them.

There is no reason why challenging themes and engaging stories have to be mutually exclusive – in fact, each can fuel the other.

I look at modern life and I see people not taking responsibility for their lives. The temptation to blame, to find external causes to one’s own issues is something that is particularly modern. I know that personally I find that sense of responsibility interesting.