Famous quotes by Robert Wise:

"I've always been proud of being a Hoosier, ... When I talk to people, I tell them that."

"He was a little of both. I didn't know much in those days, because it was only my third film. I was learning on my feet and he taught me a great deal. He was very open to actors' suggestions and he used whatever spontaneous thoughts or suggestions we might have, if they suited his purpose. He was a firm, but gentle leader."

"That lasted about 60% of the filming,"

"His mood in the morning depended on what went on at home, but I never met an actor quite like him, ... He knew exactly what worked for him on screen and knew what he could get away with."

"[Although Welles was later prone to insinuating that he had edited] Kane ... basically left the original assembly up to me."

"[Then came Welles' 1941 masterpiece,] Citizen Kane, ... a high point in a lucky life."

"Some of the more esoteric critics claim that there's no Robert Wise style or stamp. My answer to that is that I've tried to approach each genre in a cinematic style that I think is right for that genre. I wouldn't have approached 'The Sound of Music' the way I approached 'I Want to Live!' for anything, and that accounts for a mix of styles."

"Citizen Kane was a marvelous film to work on--well planned and well-shot,"

"The Sand Pebbles has always been one of my favorite films, I suppose because its the most difficult film - from a physical and logistical standpoint - that I've ever made."

"My three Ps: passion, patience, perseverance. You have to do this if you've got to be a filmmaker."

"A Mac is a closed box, so Apple can make decisions about things that they don't include. That makes, it in some ways, simpler for them."

"As I've always said, preproduction is so important. When you cast the actors, you've done much of the work. Now, you may need to guide them a little, take it up or down, have them go faster or slower, but the casting process is crucial."

"I think one of the major things a director has to do is to know his subject matter, the subject matter of his script, know the truth and the reality of it. That's very important."

"Of all the stars whom I worked with, I think Steve knew better what worked for him on the screen than any other. He had such a sense of what he could register, and that helped a lot in terms of shaping the character and the script."

"You can't tell any kind of a story without having some kind of a theme, something to say between the lines."

"You know, people always think if you start out as a film editor, you shoot less footage. Actually, just the opposite is true. I tend to grab as much coverage as I can because as a former editor I know how important it is to have those few frames."

"You look back on films sometimes and if they have not been as all-out successful as you anticipated you try to find reasons why maybe it didn't come off for audiences as well as you would have liked."

"I've always been proud of being a Hoosier. When I talk to people, I tell them that."