Jima Quotes

Every movie I make teaches me something, and that`s why I keep making them. I`m at that stage of life when I could probably stop and just hit golf balls. But in filming these two movies about Iwo Jima, I learnt about war and about character. I also learnt a lot about myself.

I was a teenager when the battle of Iwo Jima took place. I remember hearing about the bond drive and the need to maintain the war effort. Back then, people had just come through 10 years of a Depression, and they were used to working for everything. I still have an image of someone coming to our house when I was about six years old, offering to cut and stack the wood in our back yard if my mother would make him a sandwich.

The Americans who went to Iwo Jima knew it would be a tough fight, but they always believed they`d win. The Japanese were told they wouldn`t come home - they were being sent to die for the Emperor. People have made a lot out of that very different cultural approach. But as I got into the storytelling for the two movies (Flags of Our Fathers (2006) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)), I realised that the 19-year-olds from both sides had the same fears. They all wrote poignant letters home saying: "I don`t want to die." They were all going through the same thing, despite the cultural differences.

I guess if you see both of the movies (Flags of Our Fathers (2006) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)) together, they sum up as an antiwar film. Whether it`s about territory or religion, war is horrifyingly and depressingly archaic. But I didn`t set out to make a war movie. I cared about those three fellows - Bradley, Hayes and Gagnon (John H. Bradley, Ira H. Hayes, `René A. Gagnon`) - the headliners on that war-bond circus. The young men were taken off the front lines, wined and dined, introduced to movie stars. But it felt wrong to them.

As for me, I like being behind the camera instead of in front of it. I can wear what I want. Will I act again? I never say never. I like doing things where I can stretch and go in different directions. I`m not looking to take it easy. Like the Marines on Iwo Jima, I understand that if you really want something, you have to be ready to fight.

(After failing to win the Best Actor Oscar for Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)) The best way to survive an Oscar is to never try to win another one. You`ve seen what happens to some Oscar winners. They spend the rest of their lives turning down scripts while searching for the great role to win another one. Hell, I hope I`m never even nominated again. It`s meat-and-potato roles for me from now on.