Alexander Payne

The best actors are always the ones who've directed as well, as they understand all the problems you face.

I think if you watch most of my films with the sound off, you could still tell what's going on.

I think a badly crafted, great idea for a new film with a ton of spelling mistakes is just 100 times better than a well-crafted stale script.

Joe E. Lewis said, 'Money doesn't buy happiness but it calms the nerves.' And that is how I feel about a film being well-received.

When you're a houseguest and you leave, it's nice to straighten something up or send your hosts a useful gift. And when you leave the planet, it's nice to have made a positive contribution.

The hardest part of this whole movie-making endeavor is finding ideas.

The biggest fear I have is to die with regrets, and of course that will come true.

Hollywood films have become a cesspool of formula and it's up to us to try to change it... I feel like a preacher! But it's really true. I feel personally responsible for the future of American cinema. Me personally.

There is an audience out there for literate films - slower, more observant, more human films, and they deserve to be made.

They say you can do honest, sincere work for decades, but you're given in general a 10-year period when what you do touches the zeitgeist - when you're relevant. And I'm aware of that, and I don't want my time to go by.

I think cynicism lasts. Sentimentality ages, dates quickly.

I like actors who, when you see them on screen, you sense a person, not just an actor.