A biography for John Rhys-Davieshasn’t been written yet.
“It's not hard to get people to take a premise and accept it.”
“I've always been attracted to films which explore the qualities of courage.”
“Just think about it: in every shop in the reading world since 1956, there has been two feet of book-space devoted to Tolkien.”
“Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg are men at the top of their game, and Jackson especially is going to change the nature of film-making.”
“The most despised sector of Hollywood are the writers. A good writer is quickly promoted to a 'concept man' - and then a producer - because he's too valuable to simply be a writer.”
“I'm not actually sure that actors or artists should be allowed to have a family, because the focus you need, the egotism, the myopia, is just taking away from the relationship.”
“I think 'The Lost World' could've been a successful movie except for the fact that it pre-dated the good special effects and computer graphics.”
“I enjoy acting. It's not that I begin to think I'm getting better. I now fully know that I've made no improvement whatsoever since I was 20. I can live with it.”
“My parents were always Welsh-speaking and very proud of Wales.”
“Villains are a lot of fun. My villains have a lot of tongue-in-cheek. They are sometimes conscious of and a little bit gleeful of their villainy.”
“There's nothing like the discipline of having to work on a cold film set on the Danubian plain in Bulgaria. Boy, does it get cold.”
“In the film world, we can all be heroes. In the real world, where heroism can cost you your life or the life of the ones you love, people aren't so willing to make those sacrifices. When they do, they are set apart from the rest of us.”
“If you cannot have fun on a set and enjoy what you're doing, you're better off giving it up.”
“Once you've got a child to the point that they've discovered books, they're safe. There's a world of the imagination that when they're hurt or upset, they can move into, and it is wonderful.”
“The script of 'Shogun' was so tight that you could not take a word out of a sentence, you could not take a sentence out of a scene, and you certainly couldn't take out a scene without putting ripples right through the back or the front of the overall story.”
“People have become disillusioned with Parliament, and that threatens democracy.”
“Sometimes a writer just needs a hook.”
“I'd love to spend more time on the Isle of Man. I love the anonymity of putting on a boiler suit and going down to buy parts for the compressor. And Norman Wisdom's a neighbour; I salute him occasionally.”
“I found it marvelous that the great supporters of America in Europe are, of course, those countries that American consistency and firmness in the Cold War ended up liberating.”
“Given the fact that I have a family and responsibilities, it's the mark of a man to find the courage to do what is right in the face of oppressive evil.”