James Toback Quotes

The idea that there aren't mistakes made constantly in the judicial system is too obvious even to need to mention.

— James Toback

Use people whom you're excited by and who share your excitement ... The ideal collaboration is one in which the actor and director are saying to each other, 'I can't believe how lucky we are to be making a movie together.'

— James Toback

“I know a star when I see one.”

— James Toback

“Most of my movies get about a third raves, a third vicious attacks, and a third in-between.”

— James Toback

“You will never convince anyone to do anything unless you believe it should be done.”

— James Toback

“It's hard to give a dramatic shape to even the most dramatic life ... you are forced not just into selectivity, but into alteration, distortion and outright lying about what did and didn't happen.”

— James Toback

I alternate between feeling incredibly lucky that
I've gotten away with almost everything I wanted to do, and feeling
like I've been shafted.

— James Toback

“To have six billion people on Earth, two billion of whom are carrying around a warped view of you? That has to register.”

— James Toback

“[Robert Downey was being singled out for] selective prosecution. He's a sweet guy who never did harm to anyone except himself. He's been doing drugs for 20 years and functioning for 20 years, and in those 20 years there've been hundreds of people who've been getting high constantly and behaved very destructively and have not been arrested. Robert's real problem is he gets caught.”

— James Toback

The collaborator has to be someone who understands that his role is to help you articulate what you want, but at the same time is not just going to be mechanically obeying, but adding to, supplementing, and coming up with stuff.

— James Toback

“The past is history, the future's a mystery.”

— James Toback

“Death is a part of life, and eventually I assimilated that completely.”

— James Toback

“What am I hanging around for? But I'm hanging around because it's still fun.”

— James Toback

“Much as I like getting awards in Oldenburg, Germany and Torino, it's nice to get one in America.”

— James Toback