Elia Kazan Quotes

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.

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

I left the theater; I literally left to begin a new life.

I am not a cosmic orphan.

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

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

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

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

It's difficult, if not impossible, to get away with anything false before the camera. That instrument penetrates the husk of the actor; it reveals what's truly happening - if anything, if nothing. A close-up demands absolute truth. It's a severe and awesome truth

I won't go back to the theater. I like some of the things they're doing but it's different now, not something I could do. I'll go on making films the rest of my life.

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.

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

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

I may be getting old, but not foolish.

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

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.

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

The only guy who was at all helpful as a producer was Sam Spiegel with On the Waterfront. He's one of the few who even knows what he's doing.

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

The motion pictures I have made and the plays I have chosen to direct represent my convictions.

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

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

The real challenge is not simply to survive. Hell, anyone can do that. It's to survive as yourself, undiminished.

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.

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

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

A face, he believes, is a piece of sculpture that has taken a lifetime to mold, so it tells more than any actor's technique possibly could. I've watched Fellini work, and he did

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

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

I didn't have the problem of finding myself at 45 on the wrong course - I always wanted to be a film director.

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.

I was born in Turkey in an extremely oppressive climate at the time of pogroms, massacres, really. An immigrant appreciates the freedom more.

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

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

Criticism- a big bite out of someone's back.

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

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

I know many of the critics and I don't think of them as God-like figures. What can they do to hurt me? Sure, I might be slightly embarrassed for a day, but then you just go your own way.

Some directors, like Stevens [George Stevens], shoot full circle, 360 degrees, and that's what's right for them. I generally shoot at about a seven to one ratio. But part of that is because I've worked on every screenplay, so I'm further along in the visual concept.

Never underestimate the narcissism of a writer.

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.

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.

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

Every fighter has one fight that makes or breaks him.

Truth gets buried, that's why people write autobiographies.

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

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

People made suggestions, but, hell, I don't actually listen to anybody, I just go my own way.

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

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

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

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

With kids you can take a chance but casting a guy at 45 is different. You don't discover somebody that age. If an actor hasn't made it by that time he probably has no talent.

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

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

The thing with films is that you have to make something that will get people out of their houses, away from the TV set. You must touch people, say something. Otherwise, they'll stay at home.

I was even superior to the Communists and when they didn't go along with me, I quit them.

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.

There aren't many male stars - that's a loose term - like Kirk [Douglas] around. Most of those virile personalities have to keep working, continue the image because they can't do anything else. They don't even read. Their real identity is in making those pictures. They have to keep jumping on horses and hitting somebody on the head with a gun.