Peter Biskind > Quotes

“In order to get [Mean Streets] made I had to learn how to make a movie," says Scorsese. "I didn't learn how to make a movie in film school. What you learned in film school was to express yourself with pictures and sound. But learning to make a movie is totally different.”
― Peter Biskind, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls

“My theory is that everything went to hell with Prohibition, because it was a law nobody could obey. So the whole concept of the rule of law was corrupted at that moment. Then came Vietnam, and marijuana, which clearly shouldn't be illegal, but is. If you go to jail for ten years in Texas when you light up a joint, who are you? You're a lawbreaker. It's just like Prohibition was. When people accept breaking the law as normal, something happens to the whole society. You see?”
― Peter Biskind, My Lunches with Orson

“I've always felt there are three sexes: men, women, and actors. And actors combine the worst qualities of the other two.”
― Peter Biskind, My Lunches with Orson

“I have all the equipment to be a politician. Total shamelessness. But it's lucky I never ran. In the years from [Joseph] McCarthy to now, I would have either been destroyed or reduced.”
― Peter Biskind, My Lunches with Orson

“It's absolutely impossible to have a serious critical discussion about enthusiasms for movie stars. Because a movie star is an animal separate from acting. Sometimes, he or she is a great actor. Sometimes a third-rate one. But the star is something that you fall in love with ...”
― Peter Biskind, My Lunches with Orson

“I cannot, in my old age, live off pieces of my youth.”
― Peter Biskind, My Lunches with Orson

“I regard posterity as vulgar as success. I don't trust posterity. I don't think what's good is necessarily recognized in the long run. Too many good writers have disappeared.”
― Peter Biskind, My Lunches with Orson