99 Quotes by Jim Jarmusch

I love rehearsing because in rehearsals there are no mistakes, nothing is wrong, some things apply or lead you to focus on the character and the things that don’t apply are equally valuable because they lead you to towards what does.

When I hear the word ‘independent’ I reach for my revolver. At this point, what the hell does that mean? The English Patient is an independent film. Hootie and the Blowfish are alternative music. I’m the Queen of Denmark. I don’t know what it means anymore.

I prefer to be subcultural rather than mass-cultural. I’m not interested in hitting the vein of the mainstream.

I didn’t get the degree because in my last year, for my thesis film I made a feature called Permanent Vacation and they’d given me a scholarship, the Louis B Mayer fellowship and they made a mistake.

Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent.

I’m like a navigator and I try to encourage our collaboration and find the best way that will produce fruit. I like fruit. I like cherries, I like bananas.

Cricket makes no sense to me. I find it beautiful to watch and I like that they break for tea. That is very cool, but I don’t understand. My friends from The Clash tried to explain it years and years ago, but I didn’t understand what they were talking about.

I like to rehearse with the actors scenes that are not in the script and will not be in the film because what we’re really doing is trying to establish their character, and good acting to me is about reacting.

If you go into a bar in most places in America and even say the word poetry, you’ll probably get beaten up. But poetry is a really strong, beautiful form to me, and a lot of innovation in language comes from poetry.