- People always tell me, "Gee, you direct so many movies" as if that's unusual. But I made my mind up when I was young that what's most important for a director is to keep working. Because how else are you going to learn how to do new things, which - to me - is the whole point. So I make a lot of different movies and I love them all ... The movies that address civil rights and social justice are the ones that are dearest to me.
- [on working with Rod Steiger on In the Heat of the Night (1967)] I've never seen a man become a role so much. Two weeks after we started the picture, it was almost impossible to talk to [him] because he was in a Southern dialect night and day.
- [on Judy Garland] Judy Garland was the most exciting sheer talent I ever worked with. She was so unpredictable, very child-like, very difficult to work with at times, but the rewards were immense.
- [on Steve McQueen] I can honestly say he's the most difficult actor I've ever worked with.
- [on Cher] Her comic timing is natural and almost infallible. I'll say so even though she nicknamed me "the curmudgeon". Cher thinks all directors are mad and crazy. She's right. of course.
- [on directing movies] It's you against the world. It's like going to war. Everybody is trying to tell you something different, and they're always putting obstacles in your way. You have to fight for what you believe in, and you have to defend yourself constantly. It's a matter of confidence. It's when you get indecisive and you lack confidence that you get into trouble, because everybody else will take over.
- Directing, in many ways, is manipulation because you're dealing with a lot of egos. You have to manipulate people into thinking it was their idea, to get them to do what you see as being the best, to edit them without their knowing they're being edited.
- [on one reason he wanted to bring A Soldier's Story (1984) to the screen] I hitchhiked through the South in 1945 when I was eighteen, and passed the Missouri town where the last lynching had taken place. They told me I rode in the pick-up truck that had dragged the victim through the streets. That was said with a great deal of pride, which astounded me.
- [2004] This is not a business you want to lose your confidence in.
- [on Margot Kidder] I guess she will always be known for Lois Lane; she will be known for the most popular film she was in. But I think she will be remembered also for her political stance that she took because she became a very strong leader ... for young people, and I was always kind of proud of her. She became politically active and I thought she was very interesting in her feistiness and rebellious nature in life. I just kind of admired her strength. She was a very devoted person to her art and to film.
- [on Judy Garland] It's difficult to think of anyone more multitalented. Because she could move. She could dance. She could sing. She could act. She was larger than life. She was a star - a real star - and, I think, the most important, talented star I've worked with. I've worked with a lot of actors, and I've done a lot of films. But nobody comes close to her.
- I make films that are about people who have something to say, not films with endless mindless reels of action because (the studios) hope they're going to sell them to the Third World and exploit the shit out of them.
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