8MM (1999)

Joaquin Phoenix: Max California

Photos 

Quotes 

• Max California : [on the porn industry]  All I'm saying is... it can get to you.

  Tom Welles : No worries. Thanks for the warning, though.

  Max California : You're welcome. Pops... If you dance with the devil, the devil don't change. The devil changes you.

  Tom Welles : Some of your lyrics?

  Max California : That's cute.

• Max California : There are some things that you see, and you can't unsee them. Know what I mean?

• Tom Welles : What're you reading?

  [Max California shows book - "Anal Secretary"] 

  Tom Welles : Catchy title. What are you really reading? Hard to believe that book's got any parts worth highlighting.

  [Max California reveals real book - "In Cold Blood"] 

  Tom Welles : Capote!

  Max California : Yeah, well. You know how it is.

  Tom Welles : Yeah. Wouldn't want to embarrass yourself in front of your fellow perverts.

  Max California : That's right. I might get drummed out of the Pornographer's Union. Where would I be then?

• Max California : There's three rules in life: One, there's always a victim; two, don't be it.

  Tom Welles : And three?

  Max California : I forgot what three is.

• Max California : Can I interest you in a battery-operated vagina?

  Tom Welles : No thank you.

  Max California : Are you sure? I'd hate for you to be in one of those everyday situations that calls for a battery-operated vagina and not have one.

• [to porn store customer] 

  Max California : Hey! It's like a gas station, you pay before you pump!

• [after Tom Welles has asked for his "assistance"] 

  Max California : I don't know exactly what you're looking for, but just for the record - I'm straight.

  Tom Welles : Congratulations.

• [Tom hands Max an envelope] 

  Max California : What is this?

  Tom Welles : Money. People use it to buy goods and services.

• [On selling porn] 

  Max California : I don't buy it. I don't endorse it. I just point the way.

• Max California : Do you get turned on at places like tonight?

  Tom Welles : No, I do not.

  Max California : But you don't exactly get turned off either, do ya?

  Max California : Devil's changing you already.

• [On Dino Velvet] 

  Max California : He's a producer-slash-director-slash weirdo. He's like the Jim Jarmusch of S & M.

• Max California : So you got a wife and a daughter and a nice little yellow house and a dog named 'Shep'. What the hell are you doing here?

• Max California : I can hook you up, though. You name the vice I name the price.

• [On seeing a bogus snuff film] 

  Max California : Oh, wow. That's great! "Snuff 2: The Resurrection!" Well, what'd you expect for twelve hundred?

• Larry : Are you a police officer or in any way affiliated with law enforcement?

  Max California : Fuck you Larry.

  Larry : Are you a police officer or in any way affiliated with law enforcement?

  Tom Welles : Fuck you Larry.

  Max California : Mmm, you're getting the moves.

• Max California : Hey! It's like a gas station! You pay before you pump!

• Max California : [watching a video of Machine torturing a woman]  Oh, he's a lover, man... definitely loves what he does for a living.

• Tom Welles : Who makes these films?

  Max California : I don't know. Probably the Philippines.

  [after watching some more of the girl being tortured] 

  Max California : Yep. Definitely the Philippines.

• Max California : He really believes it's Art.