Cassidy Quotes

"Jack had a breakdown. A real mental breakdown. He was manic depressive. But he was the one that wanted the divorce. He thought it was better for me and the kids. I never did. I would have hung in there. I felt in many ways he was acting strangely and doing strange things and he felt perhaps it was better for all of us." - on the end of her marriage to Jack Cassidy

(on the difference between modern westerns and the westerns made during his day) I could never have played scenes like where The Sundance Kid kicks the guy in the nuts (in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)) or anything like Clint Eastwood does.

(1972 comment on Paul Newman) Paul is the most generous man with whom I`ve ever worked. We had a fantastic rapport shooting "Butch Cassidy." It was one of the happiest experiences of my life.

When I started studying tenor saxophone as a kid in Belfast, I did so with a guy named George Cassidy, who was also a big inspiration.

(Thoughts on the one film (or films) that made him want to become a filmmaker and why): There was no epiphany from one film. There were a few that stood out over the years. I was 8 when I saw _Ladri di biciclette (1948)_, and it was the first black-and-white film I had ever seen. It triggered my curiosity to start seeing European cinema. When I was 7, I saw The Making of `Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid` (1970). Hearing George Roy Hill talk about all the choices he made, I knew that directing movies was what I wanted to do. I remember seeing Death and Venice 40 times one year, and then switching my allegiance to Godard after seeing Masculine/Feminine! I knew early on that I was a nerd and that films were my refuge. Those first few minutes before the lights went off, and you`re alone in the theater waiting, were really pleasurable. Whether it was Steve McQueen, the coolest guy in cinema, to Robert Altman`s strange and wonderful 3 Women (1977), I saw hundreds of films before I ever picked up a camera. I believe I took something away from each one.

I get on well with everyone, but I like Jessie Wallace and Natalie Cassidy. Natalie was my mentor when I joined, so we`re really close.