Richard Donner Quotes

It was the beginning of film for television. So we had all of these great opportunities. Northwestern was probably the only major film school of its kind at the time that was graduating anybody important.

I'm open to comments. I'm open to objective points of view, because I've been very narrow and very subjective.

In motion pictures, the actor rules. The camera served the actor.

I realized what you could do in motion pictures by surrounding yourself with geniuses.

It was just the thrill of a lifetime. Brando and Hackman were two of my heroes.

It's only been a couple of times in my life that I've really locked horns with actors. It did not hurt the films, it just hurt the moment of the filmmaking.

If you had the opportunity and some talent, there was no way you couldn't progress, because it was an open market. There was the advertising world, and there was the documentary world.

I was painting sets, working in editorial as an assistant, driving their trucks... lying that I knew how to drive a truck... and doing commercials and documentaries.

I was really disappointed that Warner Bros. didn't think highly enough of my film or my filmmaking to ask me to make the new Superman.

I think what some people are doing with effects is starting to get silly. It's overused.

How was I going to make a man fly? How was I going to convince the public that an actor could fly?

It was 1978 when Superman came out, and I kept thinking, Why don't they do something about it? They've done all these crappy attempts at comic book film adaptations. What can we do different? Why don't we just re-release this thing?

I was tweaked by the idea of Superman immediately.

VERISIMILITUDE (the appearance or semblance of truth)

When you make a film, you like to run it with an audience. They tell you you're narrow-minded or subjective, or that seems too long, or that doesn't work.

People say, You paid your dues, but I never paid any dues. It's always been a great trip.

Superman was never previewed because the producers didn't trust Warners with the film.

I was an actor... or, at least, I was trying to be an actor.