Elia Kazan Quotes | GloryQuotes

Elia Kazan Quotes About Filmmaking

I'm going to make a film where not one word is really important. I'm going to make it all action.

A film director has to get a shot, no matter what he does. We're desperate people.

I truly believe that all power corrupts. Such is probably the thinking behind every political film ever made in Hollywood.

I owe Bankhead a gift; she made a director out of me.

I hate the Communists and have for many years and don't feel right about giving up my career to defend them. I will give up my film career if it is in the interests of defending something I believe in, but not this.

Elia Kazan Quotes About Life

You've got to keep fighting - you've got to risk your life every six months to stay alive.

The physical life of the scene is determined by whether the set squeezes people together or whether the set has an escape place in it.

I was both very successful and very left; the living demonstration of how you could be on the left and still be in the gossip columns and be envied for the money you made.

I gave my life to the Group Theatre, because in it I'm building something for myself. What I build, I am.

More Quotes by Elia Kazan

There is only one thing I respect in so-called Broadway actors... and that is their competitive sense.

The belief that the good in American society will finally win out... I don't believe any more.

Acting... was the biggest charge I ever had. What other artist has it so good? Approval so quick?

The writer, when he is also an artist, is someone who admits what others don't dare reveal.

Very often the Group actor is a critic when he's acting and an actor when he's criticizing.

Stylized acting and direction is to realistic acting and direction as poetry is to prose.

I don't remember anything anybody said in any Jack Ford picture. Nothing happens except action.

The essence of the stage is concentration and penetration. Of the screen action, movement, sweep.

The Communists automatically violated the daily practices of democracy to which I was accustomed.

I question the value of stars. I think they're overrated. They get too much money, too much praise.

I was the hero of the young insurgent working class art movement.

I didn't have that much confidence. Maybe it looks that way. I'm glad it does.

The world was like a huge red carpet out ahead of me to be walked on. And it stretched on and on, no end.

I knew the exuberance of playing before an admiring audience and hearing my secret voice.

I spoke without fear of contradiction. I simply did not suffer self-doubt.

For years after I resigned, I was still faithful to their way of thinking. But not in the American Communists.

I will say nothing to an actor that cannot be translated into action.

You have no idea how fragile an actor's self-worth is.

The makers of entertainment must try, in our field, to be honest and grown-up.

I joined the Communist Party late in 1934. I got out a year and a half later.

What's called a difficult decision is a difficult decision because either way you go there are penalties.

You can't just sit there and do the lines. You have to do something revealing or unusual.

Whatever hysteria exists is inflamed by mystery, suspicion and secrecy. Hard and exact facts will cool it.

I like directors who come on the set and create something that's a little dangerous, difficult or unusual.

I value peace when it is not bought at the price of fundamental decencies.

The first thing you should do with an actor is not sign a contract with him. Take him to dinner. And take him for a walk afterwards.

To be a member of the Communist Party is to have a taste of the police state. It is a diluted taste but is bitter and unforgettable.

Anybody who informs on other people is doing something disturbing and even disgusting.

You have to remind people of their own struggles. It's a responsibility.

The more ambivalent you are and the more uncertain you are, then you can get something that you cannot anticipate.

When you know what an actor has, you can reach in and arouse it. If you don't know what he has, you don't know what the hell is going on.

Our relationship was cursed by the fact that we agreed on everything.

I was taken in by what might be called the Hard Times version of the Communists' advertising or recruiting technique.

Miller didn't write Death of a Salesman. He released it. It was there inside him, waiting to be turned loose. That's the measure of its merit.

I was the true future. I understood Communism better than they did.

I was not what you'd call a first-class actor, but I did all right.

The thing about Brando was that I'd make these directions, and he'd walk away. He'd heard enough... to get the machine going.

Every picture that is successful has one little miracle in it.

I was very intense. I think it's a privilege to be an actor.

A good director's not sure when he gets on the set what he's going to do.

I want to thank the Academy for its courage and generosity.

I said to Tennessee, this thing is becoming the Marlon Brando show.

Every fighter has one fight that makes or breaks him.

I was not a collective person or a bohemian; I was an elitist.

I wouldn't go up on a stage now if you paid a thousand dollars for one minute of acting. It's a nasty experience. You're up there all by yourself. You're so damn exposed.

I think there should be collaboration, but under my thumb.

Hey, you must be doin' good, 'cause I never hear from you.

I'm small, but I'm neither compliant nor agreeable.

Browse 67 quotes attributed to Elia Kazan, listed in the source data as a American Director, organized around themes such as Filmmaking, Life, Money. Use the topic links to explore similar quotes, or browse the full author collection in one place.