Having one perfect thing was less important than having a range of ideas, realizing they were all taking you in a certain direction.
Robert BentonTwilight is about getting older and relationships - not about a murder mystery. It's about love when you reach a certain age; nothing is in primary colors.
Robert BentonThere was a kind of cultural life in New York that wasn't as solidified as it is now, it wasn't as money-driven. If you look at the size of the successful art galleries compared to the size of galleries now - there was no such thing as the Gagosian Gallery or Pace Gallery. But it was a time when magazines were a vital part of American life, and Esquire gave me a free pass to every world - I could get to the art world, the theater world, the movie world. It allowed you to roam through the cultural life of New York City.
Robert BentonStyle tells you a lot more about the truth than substance, because it comes at the truth in an oblique way, it comes in on a slant, it doesn't tell you what it is. It's unexpected and it makes you laugh and think.
Robert Benton