There are times when I could cheerfully walk out on the whole God damn setup. I don`t have to make pictures any more.When I first came out here to work from the New York stage,l I was carved up in all directions, a dumb actor tied to a slew of contractual clauses. Today I`m my own man - free, off the hook. This is a collective business, I know. But now it`s up to me to decide the stories we use and the kind of picture in which I`m prepared to get involved. I`m no longer the dumb and trusting ham being shuttled from picture to picture at someone else`s whim. I`m a company boss who has to make big decisions right or wrong, responsible only to myself in the long run. For years, we actors have been fighting for our so-called artistic freedom. We wanted to get rid of the moguls and their accountants. We damned the studio Shylocks for their materialism and lack of taste. Now, most of us are on our own. So what happens? This morning I had to call my office and scrap a production on which people had been working for months ... I decided it would be best to chuck it in rather than risk making a bad picture. All night I`ve been pacing up and down the house trying to make the right decision. I tell you there are times when I wish Hollywood actors had retained the status of bums and gypsies and left the planning to others. Right now, I`m tempted to say, `The hell with all of it.` The picture has changed, my friend. The old omnipotent caliphs are dying fast. Television plus the weight of years has weakened the survivors. It will need energy and a fresh executive approach to redirect the creative drive, re-channel the talent. The monopolies of the studios have been broken. The anti-trust laws have severed their distribution outlets. The shackling of actors to loaded long-term contracts is virtually a thing of the past. In effect, I have complete control over what I do. A year of two back this was considered some kind of victory of art over tyranny. Now I`m not so sure. I`m a free soul, you remember. Before I became an actor, I wanted to be a writer. Freedom of mind and action is important to me. Right now I`d like to take off for Mexico and fish for a while and swim and read books without wondering whether they would make a good picture. Now I`ll have to follow another production through from the drawing board to the cutting room. And then go out on the road and sell it with personal appearances. It can be stimulating. A challenge, as they say at Chasens. But there are times when actors like myself find themselves wishing we could resurrect Thalberg and pass the ball to him or people like him. The town`s wide open for any operator with the ability to finance, package and sell motion pictures. (1965)
- Gregory PeckI wanted to go that way and really get proactive with my career - take some control in it and redirect it in a direction that I liked.
- Ray LiottaI wasn`t crazy about the way things were going. I wanted to be a little more proactive with my career instead of waiting for something to come to me, so I formed a production company with my wife (Michelle Grace) and a partner, Diane Nabatoff, and changed agents - I really just wanted to clean house and start fresh. The first script I got was Narc and I really responded to it; it reminded me of a 70s type movie, I really liked the characters, I didn`t anticipate the ending. I wanted to go that way and really get proactive with my career - take some control in it and redirect it in a direction that I liked. - On Narc.
- Ray LiottaWe were thinking about scale instead of liquidity, ... The correct move now is to redirect the race toward liquidity.
- Geoffrey MooreYou`ve done it before and you can do it now. See the positive possibilities. Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration and turn it into positive, effective, unstoppable determination.
- Amy McNamaraThis is an additional set of eyes for the Chicago Police Department. The benefit there is they can now redirect police officers into neighborhoods and crime and disorder problems.
- Anna WickhamI`m concerned with the street issue, but very pleased with the developer`s willingness to consider using re-routing to control traffic, as well his willingness to redirect the water,
- Anthony PettigrewYou`ve done it before and you can do it now. See the positive possibilities. Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration and turn it into positive, effective, unstoppable determination.
- Ralph Marston