It has been rumored that “Psycho” is so terrifying that it will scare some people speechless. Some of my men hopefully sent their wives to a screening. The women emerged badly shaken but still vigorously vocal.
Seeing a murder on television can help work off one’s antagonisms. And if you haven’t any antagonisms, the commercials will give you some.
I’m frightened of eggs, worse than frightened, they revolt me.
In feature films the director is God; in documentary films God is the director.
In films murders are always very clean. I show how difficult it is and what a messy thing it is to kill a man.
Everything’s perverted in a different way.
All love scenes started on the set are continued in the dressing room.
In the documentary the basic material has been created by God, whereas in the fiction film the director is a God; he must create life.
Television has brought back murder into the home – where it belongs.
When we think we have been hurt by someone in the past, we build up defenses to protect ourselves from being hurt in the future. So the fearful past causes a fearful future and the past and future become one.
Disney has the best casting. If he doesn’t like an actor he just tears him up.
To make a great film you need three things – the script, the script and the script.
Television is like the invention of indoor plumbing. It didn’t change people’s habits. It just kept them inside the house.
Dialogue should simply be a sound among other sounds, just something that comes out of the mouths of people whose eyes tell the story in visual terms.
A woman of mystery is one who also has a certain maturity and whose actions speak louder than words. Any woman can be one, if she keeps those two points in mind. She should grow up-and shut up.
In the old days villains had moustaches and kicked the dog. Audiences are smarter today. They don’t want their villain to be thrown at them with green limelight on his face. They want an ordinary human being with failings.
The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture.
A lot of movies are about life, mine are like a slice of cake.
A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre admission and the babysitter were worth it.
There is nothing so good as a burial at sea. It is simple, tidy, and not very incriminating.