Michael Cimino

“I feel very, very upset that, when it came time for me to get an Academy Award, that I didn't especially thank Clint Eastwood.”

“I think 'American Sniper' is anti-war. It demonstrates the agony of the decision-making that goes on.”

“Every good war film, if you want to use that phrase - I don't think it's a good phrase, but if you want to use that phrase - every good film, a first-rate film about war, is an anti-war movi...”

“It's silly - you go to a plastic chapel in Vegas, you get married in 10 minutes, and it takes you 10 years to get divorced.”

“War is war. Vietnam is no different from the Crusades.”

“Most people I knew had been crippled by their educations. Some were even dying spiritually.”

“All of those years, I felt like 'Heaven's Gate' was a beautiful, fantastically colored balloon tied to a string fastened to my wrist, so the balloon could never fly.”

“Every great movie is about the people, even if it's a great popular success like 'Gone With the Wind.' It's really not about the Civil War. It's about Scarlett and Rhett. That's who you go t...”

“The Indians believe all things have spirit - even the hail that comes from the sky is spirit. If you believe that, which I implicitly do, everything is alive.”

“I wish I was making movies back in the days when John Ford made movies and you were a director under contract to a studio. John Ford had years when he made three movies in a year.”

“Does anyone remember who shot Kubrick's movies? Do you remember who shot David Lean's movies? No one remembers who shot 'Dr. Strangelove' or 'Barry Lyndon.'”

“I was a child prodigy. Like Michelangelo, who could draw a perfect circle at age five. I was extremely gifted. I could paint a perfect portrait of someone at age five.”

“'Leaving Las Vegas' is a relationship; 'Dead Man Walking' is a relationship, and they're very contained movies. They're compressed and not in wide open spaces all over the place.”

“It was just - I mean, 6,000 people giving you a standing ovation is quite an experience.”

“Working-class, blue-collar guys who volunteered for Vietnam were ascribed certain political beliefs. It's time that this was redressed. It had nothing to do with politics. Once these men got...”

“I have no interest in making a 'Vietnam' film, no interest in making a direct political statement.”

“Encountering a real place enhances the performances of actors in subtle ways and changes the spiritual texture of the film.”

“When the rich kids got together, the most we ever did was cross against a red light.”

“There's no service ribbon for people who fought in Korea. We lost over 30,000 men between 1951 and 1953 - as many as we lost in 15 years in Vietnam.”

“Because people don't see me around a lot, I'm the source of all sorts of rumour.”