148 Quotes by Forest Whitaker

Trying to understand, inside, what it is to be Ugandan was crucial to the character, because there are Ugandan ways of doing things that I was trying to capture. Even if I had made this movie in South Africa, it would not have been the same, because it is so specific to Uganda.

There are people [in Uganda] who hate Idi Amin, a small amount. And then there are the people who really admire him, like a hero. And then there's a large group who say, 'We know that all these murders and atrocities occurred, but he did all these great things.'

The other night I was walking down the stairs behind one of my daughters. I was tired, and she was goofing around, you know like kids do, doing all this stupid stuff on the stairs. And I was thinking, please just go down the stairs and let's get you to bed. It's after your bedtime. I've had enough for one day. And then I sort of caught myself. I snapped out of it. I was like, 'dude, you should be dancing down the stairs behind her'!

In every project, I always look for the depth of humanity inside of it. I'm just trying to say if we can help in some way heal the equation with [Afro-Americans] what's going on with us as people.

I was trying to capture this man's [Idi Amin] energy, and I did a lot of research in studying him. I tried to capture his 'Warrior King' energy inside of me as much as possible.

Until film is just as easily accessible as a pen or pencil, then it's not completely an art form. In painting you can just pick up a piece of chalk, a stick or whatever. In sculpture you can get a rock. Writing you just need a pencil and paper.

It is important to make the best out of every generation.

And God, God who believes in us all. And who’s given me this moment, in this lifetime, that I will hopefully carry to the end of my lifetime into the next lifetime.

We have to not just open our eyes to what’s going on in other places; we need to open our eyes to what’s going on right in front of us.