Elia Kazan Quotes

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

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

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

I have no spy stories to tell, because I saw no spies. Nor did I understand, at that time, any opposition between American and Russian national interest.

There was no doubt that there was a vast organization which was making fools of all the liberals in Hollywood and taking their money, that there was a police state among the Left element in Hollywood and Broadway.

One final thing a director needs: The ability to say 'I am wrong' or 'I was wrong.' Not as easy as it sounds. But in many situations, these 3 words, honestly spoken, will save the day.

I was always a self-conscious person.

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

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.

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

Never underestimate the narcissism of a writer.

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

I used to spend most of my time straining to be a nice guy so people would like me.

Look for the contradictions in every character, especially in your heroes and villains. No one should be what they first seem to be. Surprise the audience.

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

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

Every fighter has one fight that makes or breaks him.

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

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

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

Wonder is our need today, not information.

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

I may be getting old, but not foolish.

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

Take it from a director: if you get an actor that Sandy Meisner has trained, you've been blessed.

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

If you're going to play a cowboy, show up with the horse at the audition

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

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

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

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

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.

I was able to capture on film things the actors didn't even know they were doing.

The camera is more than a recorder, it's a microscope. It penetrates, it goes into people and you see their most private and concealed thoughts.

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

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

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

I was an outsider... but I was also sympathetic with people that were struggling to get up, because I struggled to get up.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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