Quotes

[1997]: Like all artists I want to cheat death a little and contribute something to the next generation.

In the 50s, when me and Natalie Wood and James Dean and Nick Adams and Tony Perkins (Anthony Perkins) suddenly arrived... God, it was a whole group of us that sort of felt like that earlier group - the John Barrymores, Errol Flynns, Sinatras, Clifts - were a little farther out than we were... So we tried to emulate that lifestyle. For instance, once Natalie and I decided we'd have an orgy. And Natalie says "O.K., but we have to have a champagne bath." So we filled the bathtub full of champagne. Natalie takes off her clothes, sits down in the champagne, starts screaming. We take her to the emergency hospital. That was *our* orgy, you understand?

[Quote from 2001]: I've been sober now for 18 years. With all the drugs, psychedelics and narcotics I did, I was [really] an alcoholic. Honestly, I only used to do cocaine so I could sober up and drink more. My last five years of drinking was a nightmare. I was drinking a half-gallon of rum with a fifth of rum on the side, in case I ran out, 28 beers a day, and three grams of cocaine just to keep me moving around. And I thought I was doing fine because I wasn't crawling around drunk on the floor.

I've been a Republican since Reagan. I voted for Bush and his father. I don't tell a lot of people, because I live in a city where somebody who voted for Bush is really an outcast.

I should have been dead ten times over. I've thought about that a lot. I believe in miracles. It's an absolute miracle that I'm still around.

[on James Dean] Jimmy was the most talented and original actor I ever saw work. He was also a guerrilla artist who attacked all restrictions on his sensibility. Once he pulled a switchblade and threatened to murder his director. I imitated his style in art and in life. It got me in a lot of trouble.

[talking on the phone with David Lynch after reading the Blue Velvet (1986) script] David, you have to let me play Frank because I am Frank.

[about his 8 days marriage with Michelle Phillips] The first seven were pretty good.

The alcohol was awful. I was a terrible alcoholic. I mean, people used to ask how much drugs I did. I said, 'I only do drugs so I can drink more'. I was doing the coke so I could drink more. I mean, I don't know any other reason. I'd start drinking in the morning. I'd drink all day long.

There are moments that I've had some real brilliance, you know. But I think they are moments. And sometimes, in a career, moments are enough. I never felt I played the great part. I never felt that I directed the great movie. And I can't say that it's anybody's fault but my own.

[on his Elegy (2008) co-star Penélope Cruz] I was aware of her, but when I saw this film, she is amazing. For the first time, I really looked at her as a woman - she's like a Sophia Loren, she's like this earth mother who has power. I was really impressed with her when I saw the film.

I am just a middle-class farm boy from Dodge City and my grandparents were wheat farmers. I thought painting, acting, directing and photography was all part of being an artist. I have made my money that way. And I have had some fun. It's not been a bad life.

I made a picture called Super Mario Bros. (1993), and my six-year-old son at the time - he's now 18 - he said, "Dad, I think you're probably a pretty good actor, but why did you play that terrible guy "King Koopa" in "Super Mario Bros."?" and I said, "Well Henry, I did that so you could have shoes", and he said, "Dad, I don't need shoes that badly".

I voted for Bush, father and son, but this time I'll vote for Obama. I was the first person in my family to have been Republican. For most of my life, I wasn't on the Left. I pray God Barack Obama is elected.

[on the years 1961 to 1967] I'm not really a person that looks back on my life, because it wasn't that pleasant to me. I have a lot of great memories, but I don't go there, because there are really dark memories too. The only regret I could have is that I wasn't directing movies. And that I wasn't really getting good parts. But I had a wonderful art experience during that period (his photography), and a life experience which I don't think I would trade, even for directing a movie. Because it was really a wonderful time. No, I don't think I would change anything.

[on the imprisonment of friend Phil Spector] I don't know if he shot that girl or not, but I know that if he did, it was an accident. When you play with guns, accidents happen.

She [Michelle Phillips] went off to work with Leonard Cohen and called me eight days later. I said, "I love you, I need you". She said, "Have you ever thought of suicide?"

[on Super Mario Bros. (1993)] It was a nightmare, very honestly, that movie. It was a husband-and-wife directing team who were both control freaks and wouldn't talk before they made decisions. Anyway, I was supposed to go down there for five weeks, and I was there for 17. It was so over budget.

Nobody had ever seen themselves portrayed in a movie. At every love-in across the country people were smoking grass and dropping LSD, while audiences were still watching Doris Day and Rock Hudson.

Independent films in this country are in the same position. Miramax and Fine Line are not independent - they're with Disney! Come on. Or they're with Warner Brothers. They're all with somebody.

To make a documentary is one thing, to make a feature film is quite another.

Easy Rider (1969) was never a motorcycle movie to me. A lot of it was about politically what was going on in the country.

Work is fun to me. All those years of being an actor and a director and not being able to get a job - two weeks is too long to not know what my next job will be.