Screenwriter Quotes

High Noon (1952) was the most un-American thing I have ever seen in my whole life. The last thing in the picture is ol` Coop (Gary Cooper) putting the United States marshal`s badge under his foot and stepping on it. I`ll never regret having run (screenwriter Carl Foreman) out of this country.

He went to every fund-raising meeting vouching for a first-time feature director and first-time screenwriter. It was Phil who said, `I believe in them; you need to trust me.

(When he was the new hot screenwriter in the mid-1980s) "I haven`t paid for lunch in two weeks."

What you do is get the right director and the right screenwriter and the right cast. It`s a fantastic job.

Being a screenwriter in Hollywood is like being a eunuch at an orgy. Worse, actually, at least the eunuch is allowed to watch.

(on The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)): The original script was ridiculous, with elephant charges and girls screaming round in the jungle. When David Lean arrived, with a new screenwriter, it became a very different thing. I saw Nicholson as an effective part, without ever really believing in the character. However, it paid off; it was a huge success and I got an Oscar for it, though I don`t think it made an enormous difference in my career.

Being a good television screenwriter requires an understanding of the way film accelerates the communication of words.

When I was really young I didn`t know that there was such a thing as a screenwriter. I wrote stories.

But once I discovered that there was such a thing as a screenwriter and a director and all that, it stayed in my head as a possibility.

I was in New York. Hitchcock was in California. He rang me to make a report on his progress and said, I`m having trouble. I`ve just sacked my second screenwriter.

Since signing with Universal, I have been working closely with Gary Ross, the director, producer and screenwriter. We have spent many hours on the phone, and I`ve been sending him information and items that have been useful to the writing process.

Of all working screenwriters, I`m a foul shooter, ... I would take any screenwriter on in foul shots.