I really woke up one morning and said, you know, 'I haven't seen a good film about the American Revolution. And all the ones I have seen haven't been successful, but I'm going to make a successful one.' Well, I wasn't able to do that.
— Irwin Winkler
As a producer, the most important call you can get is on Saturday morning, when the Friday-night grosses come in. As a director, you want your film to be successful. But your outlook is a bit different. You become very conscious of the reviews.
More money has been lost trying to imitate 'Rocky' than 'Rocky' has made.
I'm just trying to tell a nice story. Whether you're a writer or a producer, all you want to do is tell a good yarn.
For the good producer, raising capital is about the last thing to worry about. If you're good, the money comes very easily.
Believe me, it would be a long, long, cold day before I decide to warm up next to Rupert Murdoch.
Show me a Scorsese film, and I'll show you a movie where he's taken risks. It's just his nature. He's an artist, and artists take risks. He always does what he believes in.
I remember when 'The Right Stuff' opened in Hollywood. I got dressed that morning and drove my car down to the theatre that it was playing on, thinking that there would be mobs of people outside. When I looked, there was nobody there.
The thing that's strange about Frank Vincent is that actors of his quality are usually big stars.
Even some of us who make movies underestimate their influence abroad. American movies sell American culture. Foreigners want to see American movies. But that's also why so many foreign governments and groups object to them.
I am one of the graduates of the William Morris famous, famous mail room from the '60s.
No one wants to hear from the producer. He's the guy by the pool with a cigar in his mouth and a couple of lovelies on his arm. But when you're a director, they want to hear what you have to say about everything - the war, the world.
When James Bond gets old, you get rid of him and bring a new James Bond in.
Most of the producers don't know what they do. The misconception of the producers' function is really not a misconception. Most producers don't do a very good job.
Boxing is one of the few sports that is one on one.
The day I make movies that Rupert Murdoch likes and admires is the day I'll throw in the towel, because he's got no taste.
If you look at successful studios, they're the ones with stabilized management.
I just think there's a general interest in the world of computers.
We all know we have a prescribed amount of time on Earth. We just don't know how much.
If I'm going to produce something, it's going to be with somebody I think is special. Once I go beyond a handful of directors, like Scorsese, there are very few I want to work with.
When studios start telling me why a particular film project won't work, I remember 'Rocky.' I remember that the biggest success Bob Chartoff and I have had was a film nobody wanted to make.
Usually when you have a sequel, the character always stays the same and that's true basically of 'Rocky III,' 'IV' and 'V.' He didn't really change.
Every film I do, I'm involved with from the very conception of the project.
It wasn't easy getting 'GoodFellas' started.
Many of the best films made about war have come out after the wars have ended. People need a period of time to reflect on them.
I have an Oscar on my mantel.
I found 'Celebrity Gangster' intense, dramatic, a real page turner.
This is certainly not to excuse the violence that exists on TV and films and on the Internet. But the truth is that wherever you go in Europe, there are American films and TV shows that are just as popular as at home. And you don't have that sense of violence in any other place other than America.
