Robert Altman

And I said, 'No. You either give this film back to me, or you don't.' I said, 'I've gone through that, I've gone through all this collaboration process.' And they gave it back to me, and I finished the film and delivered it to them.

It's all just one film to me. Just different chapters.

If you don't have a leg to stand on, you can't put your foot down.

If George W. Bush is elected president, I'm leaving for France.

Every time we try to turn the lights up, they say, 'Turn 'em down'

Maybe there's a chance to get back to ... grown-up films. Anything that uses humor and dramatic values to deal with human emotions and gets down to what people are to people.

Wisdom and love have nothing to do with each other. Wisdom is staying alive, survival. Youare wise if you donat stick your finger in the light plug. Love -- youall stick your finger in anything.

I think these awards are wonderful. Cinema should get more international. The fine boundary lines don't really exist any more.

No filmmaker has gotten a better shake than I have. By that calculation, you may be giving this award too early. Because I think I've got about 40 years left and I intend to use them.

I always thought this kind of award meant that it was over. I'm here, I think, under false pretences. I think I have to become straight with you. Ten years ago, 11 years ago I had a heart transplant, a total heart transplant.

No other filmmaker has gotten a better shake than I have I never had to direct a film I didn't choose and develop. Eleven years ago, I had a heart transplant. I got the heart of a young woman who is in her late 30s. So by that calculation, you may be giving me this award too early, because I think I've got 40 years left, and I intend to use them.

I'm here, I think, under kind of false pretenses, and I think I have to become straight with you. Ten years ago, 11 years ago, I had a heart transplant -- a total heart transplant. I got the heart of, I think, a young woman who was about in her late 30s. So, by that calculation, you may be giving me this award too early, because I think I got about 40 years left on it -- and I intend to use it.

It's a variety show. We wrote it as we went along. As we were casting people, he was rewriting constantly. This guy's a genius. We deferred to each other. He's been in charge of himself and his show for 30 years and so have I. So we suddenly had a monster with two heads.

We're not against each other. They sell shoes and I make gloves.

What's a cult It just means not enough people to make a minority.

Filmmaking is a chance to live many lifetimes.

A Prairie Home Companion.

Men make clothes for the women they'd like to be with or in most cases the women they'd like to be.

I don't know what a best director is, except that (it is) someone who stands in the same space with the best actors, ... I feel that they do the work and I get to watch. And nothing is better than that.