Marilyn was mean. Terribly mean. The meanest woman I have ever met around this town. I have never met anybody as mean as Marilyn Monroe or as utterly fabulous on the screen.
BILLY WILDERIf you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act.
More Billy Wilder Quotes
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God save me from myself.
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You’re as good as the best thing you’ve ever done.
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I hate that word. It’s return–a return to the millions of people who’ve never forgiven me for deserting the screen.
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I had one life. And what did I do? Wasted it in some palooka preliminaries in Spain, just before Hitler and Chamberlain warm up for the main event.
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My English is a mixture between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Archbishop Tutu.
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We are on the track of something absolutely mediocre.
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Ah, Marilyn, Hollywood’s Joan of Arc, our Ultimate Sacrificial Lamb. Well, let me tell you, she was mean, terribly mean. The meanest woman I have ever known in this town.
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I just made pictures I would’ve liked to see.
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I never overestimate the audience, nor do I underestimate them. I just have a very rational idea as to who we’re dealing with, and that we’re not making a picture for Harvard Law School.
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Shoot a few scenes out of focus. I want to win the foreign film award.
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Well, nobody’s perfect.
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Develop a clean line of action for your leading character
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Love is the hardest thing in the world to write about. So simple. You’ve got to catch it through details, like the early morning sunlight hitting the gray tin of the rain spout in front of her house.
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I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.
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My Aunt Minnie would always be punctual and never hold up production, but who would pay to see my Aunt Minnie?
BILLY WILDER