Alexander Payne

“Well, that's what life is - this collection of extraordinarily ordinary moments. We just need to pay attention to them all. Wake up and pay attention to how beautiful it all is.”

“I still have energy and some degree of youth, which is what a filmmaker needs.”

“I'm hoping one day I can make one really good film.”

“They say you can do honest, sincere work for decades, but you're given in general a 10-year period when what you do touches the zeitgeist - when you're relevant. And I'm aware of that, and I don't want my time to go by.”

“The novel succeeds on terms exclusive to literature. A good film succeeds on terms exclusive to the cinema. That's why so many bad novels can become good movies, like 'Jaws' or 'The Godfather.'”

“That's how I like to do it with actors, have them really go for it and I'll tell them when it's too much. It's always easier to bring it back then to push it further.”

“In a sense, 'Schmidt' is the most Omaha of my films. But have I gotten it right? I'm not sure. Did Fellini get Rome right? Did Ozu get Tokyo right?”

“The best actors are always the ones who've directed as well, as they understand all the problems you face.”

“I think if you watch most of my films with the sound off, you could still tell what's going on.”

“The hardest part of this whole movie-making endeavor is finding ideas.”

“I always wanted 'Sideways' to be like a great 1960s Italian film.”

“I mean, look, I love movies, not just the ones I make... In fact, I don't like the movies I make very much.”

“Joe E. Lewis said, 'Money doesn't buy happiness but it calms the nerves.' And that is how I feel about a film being well-received.”

“I like voice-over in films, and most of my films have been voice-over films.”

“As the years go by and I make more films, I am increasingly interested in capturing place as a vivid backdrop for my films.”

“I don't want all of American cinema to be big cartoons that are just made to be digested by the entire world.”

“You begin a film more with questions than with direct intentions. It's more of an exploration and discovery.”

“I don't think so much about verbal comedy. I always think about visual comedy. I was raised watching silents, and I'm always thinking about how to make cinema, not good talking - although I want good talking. I'm much more interested in framing, composition, and orchestration of bodies in space, and so forth.”

“I guess maybe I try to make movies that are closer to real life than are many Hollywood movies. But I still try to stay within a commercial narrative, a contemporary American vernacular.”

“When you're a houseguest and you leave, it's nice to straighten something up or send your hosts a useful gift. And when you leave the planet, it's nice to have made a positive contribution.”