Clint Eastwood
My wife used to be an anchorwoman in Arizona, so she knew John McCain, and she liked him, and I kinda liked him.
I was an Eisenhower Republican when I started out at 21 because he promised to get us out of the Korean War.
Why am I a star? It can't be because of looks.
Our modern society - especially in the West, and especially now - reveres youth.
Plagiarism is always the biggest thing in Hollywood.
I tend to believe that audiences are relatively well-balanced people.
As long as somebody finances you, can make a film and get it seen any place and in any language; then, hopefully, it's a success.
If you ever go to a music session, you'll notice that the musicians can sit down and start playing right away, and everyone knows what to do. Of course they're reading it, but the conductor can tweak little things, and you can take that back to directing motion pictures.
Comedy isn't necessarily all dialogue. Think of Buster Keaton: the poker face and all this chaos going on all around him. Sometimes it's a question of timing, of the proper rhythm.
I've had moments when I've thought about somebody, picked up the phone to call them and they are on the line already, and I think that maybe there's some vibration, some connection.
There's no real excuse for being successful enough as an actor to do what you want and then selling out. You do it pure. You don't try to adapt it, make it commercial.
I love big business!
I'm not one of these guys who sits around saying, 'Gee, I mean, the person had a strange childhood and that's why he's doing this horrible thing. Poor Jeffrey Dahmer. He's just had a bad childhood and that's why he's eating people.' Wait a second! This person should be removed from the planet.
When you listen to Ray Charles, there's never any doubt whose voice that is.
I don't like to see a president who is just out campaigning all year long or for the last four years. I'd like to see somebody who's going in the office. In fact, I'd like to not see them because that way you'd be sure that they'd be working.
I don't really get into a big intellectual analysis of why I am going to do a certain script or not.
I've always felt that if I examine myself too much, I'll find out what I know and don't know, and I'll burst the bubble. I've gotten so lucky relying on my animal instincts, I'd rather keep a little bit of the animal alive.
I'm a day-to-day-type person.
I'd always tried to resist playing the supervirility thing. I liked showing the vulnerability of age.
I am a good listener. I think that came from my schooling.
I have worked ever since I was 13.
A lot of people are realizing they had the wool pulled over their eyes by Obama.
I think there is a lot made out of age, and what age you feel.
Actors know what actors are insecure about - and they're all insecure.
I'm not a chick-flick enthusiast.
I liked Vittorio De Sica a lot, and I got to work with him once in a segment movie. He was a great director. He was a very charismatic character and a guy I watched a lot when he was directing.
I'm not a regrets-type person.
In my career as a director, there's always been some point where you get halfway through it, or three-quarters, and you go: 'What is this thing all about, and why am I telling the story? Does anybody really care about seeing this?' At that time you have to say: 'OK, forget that and just go ahead.'
I think 'Dirty Harry' was probably sensitive toward the victims of violent crime.
Movies were invented for Jimmy Cagney, and he was invented for the movies. A perfect match.
When I see a story, I ask: is this something I'd like to be in? Is this something I'd like to see? And if I'd like to see it, would I like to tell it?
I've always said the one advantage an actor has of converting to a director is that he's been in front of the camera. He doesn't have to get in front of the camera again, subliminally or otherwise.
It's a very confusing era that we're in.
I never sympathise with the accused unless there's a chance the accused is not guilty, but I certainly don't ever sympathise with the criminal.
'Mystic River' just smelled interesting to me. So I read it and liked it right away. Even the dialogue in it was great.
Just try not to ingest a lot of fats, and just try to eat carefully.
On 'Mystic River,' I had to cut my salary and everyone else's to get it made.
It would be great to be 105 and still making films.
The stronger the participation of the female characters, the better the movie. They knew that in the old days, when women stars were equally as important as men.
I probably would have retired years ago if I hadn't found interesting things to do.
Every story has its demands.
If a person doesn't change, there's something really wrong with him.
I always thought of myself as a character actor. I never thought of myself as a leading man.
Nobody looks like they did when they were 20, so why not take advantage of the fact that you're changing, emotionally as well as physically?
If somebody's dumb enough to ask me to go to a political convention and say something, they're going to have to take what they get.
You are always hoping that movie audiences are interested in characters and interested in story values rather than just mindless special effects. But you never know.
Even people on the liberal side are starting to worry about going off a fiscal cliff.
I like working. That's when I'm feeling my best. And the people around me know that. My wife knows that.
My dad was a big admirer of Sergeant York stories from the First World War.