37 Quotes by Mark Rydell

I've always felt badly that Jimmy wasn't treated with the kind of respect that I thought he deserved, ... Having known him and known how committed and determined he was as an artist and how tortured he was as a human being, and knowing the agonies of his childhood, I felt that this was a good chance to make an honorable psychological portrait of him.

It's enough to say he was in the movie business for 16 months and here we are, talking about him 46 years later, ... That's a testimonial to the impact that he had, the power of his personality and his talent, which is indisputable.

For 30 years he was the conscience of Hollywood,

It's the unusual leading man. Most of the Hollywood leading men are powerful and capable and strong, heroes. He has this vulnerability, he's fragile, he struggles to find a way to live from day to day that we can identify with, that we can understand.

It's sad - it's sad for us old enough to remember when directors ruled, and films were substantially better than they are today. But it's hard to argue with those kinds of grosses.

He's very alive in a scene. He's a very good actor to act with. Even though through most of the picture he's blind, there are many places early in the picture I got to be with him before he was blind. Like convincing him in the office to do the picture.

I consider his performance to be a miracle, ... I think he's one of the most talented people I've ever met. You know, he's 22 years old. ... He just transformed himself. At times it seemed eerie. It was like cloning or channeling James Dean. There were moments where I thought, 'My God, this is really bizarre.'

No one turns down a film with Woody; it's something everyone wants in their career as an important moment. He's such a comedic genius, without question, so I was thrilled.

There are always at least five good films at the end of the year to get nominated, but generally speaking nowadays, it's more of the independent films that are recognized.