Paul Morrissey

“I love Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton, but not Charlie Chaplin.”

“Rome has New York's formlessness, aimlessness, a kind of hard-boiled sophistication, blase about everything. In their filmmaking, too, the Italians have this tongue-in-cheek sense of comedy.”

“Actors should be instinctive and spontaneous. If you think about acting, you're not going to be good.”

“What made Andy famous was the years I managed him. I created the Velvet Underground and told him not to worry about them because they would help his career. All those things I did created his fame.”

“I'm not anti-Hollywood; not at all. In fact, I'm rather fascinated by everything that goes on here. When I get hold of a copy of 'Variety,' I read it cover to cover; I love to know what people are doing.”

“Most of the time, I leave the camera on the obvious special effects, like the rubber bodies, so that it become obvious they're not real.”

“Andy was an offbeat personality, shy and insecure. The whole reason for taking a camera with him wherever he went was because he was so shy. He'd break the ice by taking pictures.”

“Nico was peculiar. She was extraordinary.”

“I adore jokes. They're a theatrical contrivance, but the irony of all fiction is that you approach reality by avoiding it a bit; you spoof it a bit.”

“I've always stayed independent, but I've always felt an obligation to make movies an untutored audience could like.”

“It's not a secret, but if you know what the hell you're doing, you pick good actors. And you know what makes a good actor? A good personality in the performer, in the person.”

“Even Andy never hung his own paintings. He'd sell them or put them in a box.”

“Andy was not a director and not a writer. He operated the camera a little bit, and he wasn't even so good at that.”

“It's good to aggravate people a little. It makes them pay attention.”

“The Democrats tax anything that moves.”

“We are always getting photos and publicity from people who want to act in Andy's movies. We always throw them away. They don't seem to realize that the last thing we'd put into a movie is an actor. Because all the other movies use actors.”

“I never wanted to be anything special. I just wanted to make films.”

“There's something about all the films that I have made in that they don't seem old or dated, and some people mention that.”

“I've always been an independent producer. I'd kind of like to be hired help for a change. I don't mind that.”

“I'm not against censorship in principle. Not at all. Some things should be censored.”