67 Quotes by John Cassavetes

I don't care about being on top, about being No. 1. I just make movies for a few suckers in the audience, anyway.

We have problems, terrible problems, but our problems are human problems.

One question. How did you know I was here?

People have said that my films are very difficult to watch, that they're experiences you are put through rather than ones you enjoy, and it's true.

You know as a director what you want, but the film is smarter than you, the film says no, the film says there's something more here.

I'm not good at comparing and contrasting, ... I take what's in front of me for what it is, although I guess there's something about Paul's realistic writing that is like Cassavetes.

There's a difference between ad-libbing and improvising. And there's a difference between not knowing what to do and just saying something. Or making choices as an actor. As a writer also, as a person who's making a film, as a cameraman, everything is a choice. And it seems to me I don't really have to direct anyone or write down that somebody's getting drunk; all I have to do is say that there's a bottle there and put a bottle there and then they're going to get drunk.

When I started making films, I wanted to make Frank Capra pictures. But I`ve never been able to make anything but these crazy, tough pictures. You are what you are.

I'm not good at comparing and contrasting. I take what's in front of me for what it is, although I guess there's something about Paul's realistic writing that is like Cassavetes.