Roman Polanski Quotes & Sayings

It's very important to set your place in a concrete environment. I think Chekhov said that the important thing when you have a play or any kind of novel is to set the roots in a concrete place. — Roman Polanski

Cinema should make you forget you are sitting in a theater. — Roman Polanski

Every failure made me more confident. Because I wanted even more to achieve as revenge, to show that I could. — Roman Polanski

I see Macbeth as a young, open-faced warrior, who is gradually sucked into a whirpool of events because of his ambition. When he meets the weird sisters and hears their prophecy, he's like the man who hopes to win a million - a gamble for high stakes. — Roman Polanski

Happy endings make me puke. — Roman Polanski

If I had killed somebody, it wouldn't have had so much appeal to the press, you see? But f-ing, you see, and the young girls. Judges want to f- young girls. Juries want to f- young girls. Everyone wants to f- young girls! — Roman Polanski

I know that atmosphere of the Parisian apartment building, with the twin menaces of the concierge on the ground floor and the landlord upstairs. — Roman Polanski

I never made a film which fully satisfied me. — Roman Polanski

Whenever I get happy, I always have a terrible feeling. — Roman Polanski

It's easy to direct while acting; there's one less person to argue with. — Roman Polanski

Some experience is helpful. "The Pianist" was a film that I could make with my eyes closed because I had lived it and everything was still alive in me. — Roman Polanski

I like skiing, among other things, because I have moments when I am alone in the mountains. That's fantastic, when there's nobody around you. You see miles around you, and the sun is almost down . — Roman Polanski

I still had some honor ... I still have some now. — Roman Polanski

I did not have a reputation to defend. — Roman Polanski

Why did Erich von Stronheim leave Germany? Why did Hitchcock leave England? If you were a director you'd like to work in Hollywood too. Now go ahead and ask me if I'm still Polish. You people keep asking me this question. You want Polish artists to make it in the world, but when they do, you accuse them of treason. — Roman Polanski

Normal love isn't interesting. I assure you that it's incredibly boring. — Roman Polanski

When I really love a movie, I don't want to spoil it by too frequent visits. But I like to come back to certain films, which I admire. — Roman Polanski

I simply think there's life after movies. I have to adhere to this philosophy, and therefore I like other things, and I have other passions. None are as big as movie-making, but they exist. — Roman Polanski

The whole showmanship is NOT to answer every question. — Roman Polanski

If you have a great passion it seems that the logical thing is to see the fruit of it, and the fruit are children. — Roman Polanski

I don't really know what is shocking. When you tell the story of a man who is beheaded, you have to show how they cut off his head. If you don't, it's like telling a dirty joke and leaving out the punch line. — Roman Polanski

With each film, i need an artistic challenge so I don't get bored! I like to tackle challenges. — Roman Polanski

I don't know anyone who is not using drugs for the reason that they're illegal. — Roman Polanski

I don't think that there would be more users if drugs were legalized. — Roman Polanski

My films are the expression of momentary desires. I follow my instincts, but in a disciplined way. — Roman Polanski

I can only say that whatever my life and work have been, I'm not envious of anyone-and this is my biggest satisfaction. — Roman Polanski

I admire actors for their infinite patience. That's why they need all those trailers and all their crowd of people who pamper them. But it is a drag to get up sometimes at 4:30 in the morning and get into makeup, and wait forever until they call you onto the set. — Roman Polanski

You have to show violence the way it is. If you don't show it realistically, then that's immoral and harmful. If you don't upset people, then that's obscenity. — Roman Polanski

I don't rehash the past. It's my baggage. That's all. I accept things as they are. — Roman Polanski

I consider myself more a craftsman than an artist. — Roman Polanski

I want people to go to the movies. I am the man of the spectacle. I'm playing. — Roman Polanski

In Paris, one is always reminded of being a foreigner. If you park your car wrong, it is not the fact that it's on the sidewalk that matters, but the fact that you speak with an accent. — Roman Polanski

The best films are because of nobody but the director. — Roman Polanski

I would rather live in a country where children are protected and their predators prosecuted, and even (which in Hollywood is evidently not always the same thing) disapproved of. — Roman Polanski

The torches ran off, and I found myself in a forest, at night, without any light, on skis, and that was not fun - particularly because I was drunk. Luckily at some point I started to see the light of the ski lift. To be in the forest in the middle of the night, it's terrible. — Roman Polanski

I sometimes cry in the moments that are not necessarily dramatic or tragic in the films, often because of the music. I wonder whether it's the music that has that effect on you in this film. — Roman Polanski

I would love to make a film about aging that would take place before the war. It would follow the stages in the life of a woman who would not have at her disposal the resources of today like cosmetic surgery, creams and pills. — Roman Polanski

To the audience it doesn't really matter how much the director struggled with an actor. It's the result that counts. — Roman Polanski