Latest William Friedkin Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• There are certain things that happen during the production of, I think, every film, that you didn't plan, and often it's better than what you did plan. There's the question of either going with it or not.

  William Friedkin

  Thinking, Film

  Source: film.avclub.com

• The only gay people who remain in the closet are those who choose to, who don't want to publicly declare their sexuality, which is true of heterosexual people as well. I don't walk around with a button or a T-shirt that says "I am a heterosexual." I don't think sexuality defines a person. It's one small part of who you are, in my view. You are many things, and I never felt that people were defined by their sexuality solely. Although God knows, as a minority, gay people have taken serious lumps for their sexual preferences. As has every minority.

  William Friedkin

  Taken, Gay, Thinking

  Source: film.avclub.com

• We were just trying to make the films that we could get made, and to push the envelope. We didn't realize how far we had pushed the envelope. That all came later. That all came from books and articles about the golden age of the '70s. Believe me, to a lot of us, it was no golden age. The studio heads were very powerful then. They would fire guys right and left. They would look at your dailies and tell you what was wrong with them... a lot of stuff that doesn't go on today. Young filmmakers who are successful today, they don't often have that to put up with.

  William Friedkin

  Powerful, Believe, Book

  Source: film.avclub.com

• I can't sit through the superhero films. But I watched Draft Day, and it was kind of sweet in an old-fashioned way.

  William Friedkin

  Sweet, Superhero, Way

  "Inside the Forgotten Movie Masterpiece Sorcerer". Interview with Bryan Reesman, www.esquire.com. April 30, 2014.

• I don't go to the movies much anymore. There's very little that draws me. I watch mostly the older stuff, and I often don't sit through the new films.

  William Friedkin

  Watches, Littles, Stuff

  "Inside the Forgotten Movie Masterpiece Sorcerer". Interview with Bryan Reesman, www.esquire.com. April 30, 2014.

• I believe today that there is no film and no shot in a film that is worth a squirrel getting a sprained ankle.

  William Friedkin

  Believe, Squirrels, Ankles

  "Inside the Forgotten Movie Masterpiece 'Sorcerer'". Interview with Bryan Reesman, www.esquire.com. April 30, 2014.

• If Star Wars had failed, you wouldn't have 90 percent of what's out there today.

  William Friedkin

  Stars, War, Today

  "Inside the Forgotten Movie Masterpiece Sorcerer". Interview with Bryan Reesman, www.esquire.com. April 30, 2014.

• 'Star Wars' gave birth to all the computer-generated superhero films.

  William Friedkin

  Stars, War, Superhero

  "Inside the Forgotten Movie Masterpiece 'Sorcerer'". Interview with Bryan Reesman, www.esquire.com. April 30, 2014.

• Star Wars is one of a handful of films that changed the zeitgeist forever.

  William Friedkin

  Stars, War, Forever

  "Inside the Forgotten Movie Masterpiece Sorcerer". Interview with Bryan Reesman, www.esquire.com. April 30, 2014.

• All the great countries are at odds with one another over something, and yet if they don't cooperate they're going to blow up.

  William Friedkin

  Country, Blow, Odds

  "Inside the Forgotten Movie Masterpiece Sorcerer". Interview with Bryan Reesman, www.esquire.com. April 30, 2014.

• Even with some of the best action films like 'The Bourne Ultimatum,' which is a great action film with a great chase sequence, so much of it is computer-generated. But that doesn't bother me. I think it works. It's fantastic.

  William Friedkin

  Thinking, Action, Computer

  "Inside the Forgotten Movie Masterpiece 'Sorcerer'". Interview with Bryan Reesman, www.esquire.com. April 30, 2014.

• We all wind up the same way, no matter what our goals or ambitions are. We have nothing at all to say about how we got into this world or how are going to leave it.

  William Friedkin

  Ambition, Wind, Goal

  "Inside the Forgotten Movie Masterpiece Sorcerer". Interview with Bryan Reesman, www.esquire.com. April 30, 2014.

• The studios mostly threw away the negatives of the classic films. They had no interest in their legacy.

  William Friedkin

  Legacy, Classic Films, Interest

  Interview with Nathan Rabin, film.avclub.com. September 20, 2007.

• I don't think sexuality defines a person. It's one small part of who you are, in my view. You are many things, and I never felt that people were defined by their sexuality solely.

  William Friedkin

  Thinking, Views, People

  Interview with The A.V. Club, film.avclub.com. September 20, 2007.

• God knows, as a minority, gay people have taken serious lumps for their sexual preferences. As has every minority.

  William Friedkin

  Taken, Gay, People

  Interview with Nathan Rabin, film.avclub.com. September 20, 2007.

• If you call yourself a non-believer, you're referring to disbelief in something, and you're acknowledging that there is something to believe in or not.

  William Friedkin

  Believe, Disbelief, Referring

  Interview with The A.V. Club, film.avclub.com. September 9, 2007.

• The thing that interests me is the good and evil in everybody. I don't have conventional heroes in the films that I directed, because I believe there's good and evil in everybody.

  William Friedkin

  Believe, Hero, Evil

  Interview with The A.V. Club, film.avclub.com. September 20, 2007.

• You are always cheating for the audience.

  William Friedkin

  Cheating, Audience

  Interview with Noel Murray, film.avclub.com. December 4, 2008.

• There is a thin line between the policeman and the criminal. The best cops are always crossed. The best cops are the ones who are able to think like criminals. But for a quirk of fate, they might have been criminals.

  William Friedkin

  Fate, Thinking, Lines

  Source: www.movieweb.com

• With The Exorcist we said what we wanted to say. Neither one of us view it as a horror film. We view it as a film about the mysteries of faith. It's easier for people to call it a horror film. Or a great horror film. Or the greatest horror film ever made. Whenever I see that, I feel a great distance from it.

  William Friedkin

  Distance, Views, People

  Source: www.movieweb.com

• All of the films I have made, that I have chosen to make, are all about the thin line between good and evil. And also the thin line that exists in each and every one of us. That's what my films are about.

  William Friedkin

  Evil, Lines, Film

  Source: www.movieweb.com

• I have seen lampoons of my work. And I have really enjoyed them. But I would never do another version of The Exorcist.

  William Friedkin

  Exorcist, Enjoyed, Versions

  Source: www.movieweb.com

• I'm not a fan of Star Wars. That is not for me. That is for my nephews and nieces. I don't get it.

  William Friedkin

  Stars, War, Niece

  Source: www.movieweb.com

• The Blu-ray is the real cinematech of world cinema. That's how it's being preserved. All of these guys that are trying to preserve 35mm negatives? They are wasting their time. There are better ways to see and project this stuff. It's called digital.

  William Friedkin

  Real, Guy, Trying

  "EXCLUSIVE: William Friedkin Revisits To Live and Die in L.A. on Blu-ray". Interview with B. Alan Orange, movieweb.com. February 19, 2010.

• Sure, you could go out and make Jaws today. But all of the sequels to Jaws weren't good. They are all worthless. The Godfather II is the only sequel that I have ever seen that is as good as or better than the original.

  William Friedkin

  Today, Sequels, Originals

  Source: www.movieweb.com