Mark Rydell

Famous quotes by Mark Rydell:

"He was talking to me about bull-fighting, which was one of his passions,"

"So he was really a tortured fellow, ... He felt very lonely during that period. But he felt that it helped him. And it did."

"For 30 years he was the conscience of Hollywood,"

"I remember thinking at that moment that he was not long for this world. Anybody who could do that had such a reckless personality that sooner or later it was going to catch up with him,"

"I've always felt badly that Jimmy wasn't treated with the kind of respect that I thought he deserved, ... Having known him and known how committed and determined he was as an artist and how tortured he was as a human being, and knowing the agonies of his childhood, I felt that this was a good chance to make an honorable psychological portrait of him."

"I consider his performance to be a miracle, ... I think he's one of the most talented people I've ever met. You know, he's 22 years old. ... He just transformed himself. At times it seemed eerie. It was like cloning or channeling James Dean. There were moments where I thought, 'My God, this is really bizarre.'"

"The picture is not a documentary, ... It's a drama that has to be crafted. Reality is not art. You have to make choices when you're trying to make something work. And the choices we make I think are accurate. There aren't any lies in it. There are assumptions made that are critical and necessary."

"It's enough to say he was in the movie business for 16 months and here we are, talking about him 46 years later, ... That's a testimonial to the impact that he had, the power of his personality and his talent, which is indisputable."

"It's the unusual leading man. Most of the Hollywood leading men are powerful and capable and strong, heroes. He has this vulnerability, he's fragile, he struggles to find a way to live from day to day that we can identify with, that we can understand."

"He's very alive in a scene. He's a very good actor to act with. Even though through most of the picture he's blind, there are many places early in the picture I got to be with him before he was blind. Like convincing him in the office to do the picture."

"Yes, there are directors I admire, the mavericks. Altman. There are many good directors."

"I long for the days when grosses were not even known. There was no weekend competition."