Action Film Quotes & Sayings

I've consciously taken on material that's a bit too much for me but not an overreach. The first movie, just about performances. 'The Town,' I learned how to work broader material, develop tension, direct bigger scenes, action sequences. 'Argo,' I experimented with film stock, widened the scope of my geography. — Ben Affleck

Even with some of the best action films like The Bourne Ultimatum, which is a great action film with a great chase sequence, so much of it is computer-generated. But that doesn't bother me. I think it works. It's fantastic. — William Friedkin

Cable television stations in America are now producing such smart, in-depth, non-formula, character-based dramas. Film has turned more and more into big action or cartoons. — Gillian Armstrong

If you're not bruised up, then you're not doing an action film in a real way. — Mads Mikkelsen

The Runaway Five's obvious influence is The Blues Brothers. During localization, their black and white suits were made more colorful to avoid legal action from Universal Pictures or the film's producers. When I told my wife Aviva about this, she admitted she had never seen The Blues Brothers film. Having grown up on a steady diet of Saturday Night Live-spawned movies, I told her that her innocence here was blasphemous. That night, we marveled together at James Brown's hair. — Ken Baumann

The first one I did was an action film with Sammo Hung and George Lam, but I had the usual female role for that time: you know, damsel in distress, rescued by the hero. — Michelle Yeoh

If you take my performance or my understanding of the role and my appreciation for story and then dress it in CGI, that I guess becomes an action film. — Vin Diesel

I've always been really into action movies. Since I was little, that was my favorite type of film. — Austin Butler

I have a real taste for doing action roles. I starred in a movie called 'Blast,' which was my first action film, and I loved the fighting - I think I've got the build, the attitude and the look for it. — Nadine Velazquez

he later made the tobacco companies pay: over $200 billion to Mississippi and forty-five other states as compensation for Medicaid costs arising from tobacco-related illnesses. The case (immortalized in the film The Insider) made Scruggs a rich man. His fee in the tobacco class action is said to have been $1.4 billion, or $22,500 for every hour his law firm worked. — Niall Ferguson

I'd love to do a Paul Greengrass movie, or something like that, that's a character-driven action film. I'd like someone to make me go to the gym every day, and all that stuff. I don't know. Wherever the good characters are, I tend to try to get a job. It was nice because this was dipping my toe in the action genre. Maybe I might put my foot in, next time. — Carey Mulligan

I'm just a giant film fan, so I love action movies out of all kinds of movies. As a film geek, it's amazing to be able to shoot this stuff. — Adam McKay

My audience loves seeing me pump large amounts of money into action and sets. And it works. I'm not saying that films made within a budget are wrong. But when audiences come to see my film with their families, I guess they are spending at least 10 per cent of their monthly income. I don't want to cheat them. — Rohit Shetty

Yeah loads of bruises and welts, usually around the hip, arse, thigh region and elbows. Elbows got knocked up big time, but it was so much fun. I hadn't done a meaty action film in seven or eight years, so it was fun to explore that aspect of storytelling again. — Colin Farrell

I would say that my favorite action film is the 'Die Hard's. They're kind of perfect, I think. — Michael Angarano

The action movie, the thriller and the drama all have safety nets under them. But not the horror film. The horror film can sink to an abyss far darker than the imagination can ever reach. — Marcus Dunstan

The writer's job is to write the screenplay and keep the reader turning pages, not to determine how a scene or sequence should be filmed. You don't have to tell the director and cinematographer and film editor how to do their jobs. Your job is to write the screenplay, to give them enough visual information so they can bring those words on the page into life, in full 'sound and fury,' revealing strong visual and dramatic action, with clarity, insight, and emotion. — Syd Field

So think how this might alter the memory of The Matrix: In some protracted reality, film historians will reinvestigate an extremely commercial action movie made by people who (unbeknownst to the audience) would eventually transition from male to female. Suddenly, the symbolic meaning of a universe with two worlds - one false and constructed, the other genuine and hidden - takes on an entirely new meaning. — Chuck Klosterman

There are lots of guns and action in my drawings, and part of that is just to make them more interesting. Because you can go through a whole film and it's mostly talking heads and little else until the action scenes, and they're usually violence or physical stuff. Same with baseball, or any sport. Except I find pitching and batting are visually very striking. — Raymond Pettibon

I approach every film I do in the same way, whether it's an action film or not an action film. I guess if a certain physicality lends itself to action, but I started acting before I reached puberty. I was 7 years old when I started acting. It wasn't until I became a bouncer in New York ... — Vin Diesel

Over the years, I have realized that there's more to a film's fate than just good acting and a solid script. It needs to be marketed well. It's the package that sells - the songs, action, actors, etc. — Randeep Hooda

I think these are such different films that it's hard to compare, because with Quentin we were all just like, it was like a party every day, you know, it was like that film was just like silly, it was just really for fun, it was really, it wasn't, you know, to make a huge impact. I t was just we wanted to have fun and go to work every day and do a fun movie. And this is like huge, I mean, this is like huge studio film, there's a ton of action, it's like really hard work. — Mary Elizabeth Winstead

I do find violence entertaining, but that doesn't make me a bad person. I grew up watching all these action films when I was a kid. My dad would bring back 'Rambo' and whatever, and we'd watch it together. It's not affected me in any way other than I just appreciate the entertainment value of violence on film. — Scott Adkins

In an action film you act in the action. If it's a dramatic film you act in the drama. — Jean-Claude Van Damme

'Coraline' is Neil Gaiman's book, it sold a lot, it has a big fan base. It was originally conceived to be live action, but I never really wanted it to be. I always thought that it would work better as an animated film. — Henry Selick

I'm a tomboy at the end of the day, so anything that causes me to have to run around, fight people, roll in the dirt, hop a fence - I'm all for it. So I really would love to do an action film. — Emayatzy Corinealdi

Sometimes it is the emotional experience of film and television that bring a cause to our hearts and stir us to action - they inform and inspire. — Lee Hirsch

I'm a big believer in supporting the action on film with the appropriate music. It covers a multitude of sins. It's gotten me out of a lot of jams, over the years. So, music for me is a very big thing in films and I use it unashamedly. — Woody Allen

Characters I've played, they used to impact my paintings, like 80 percent of the time, and especially when I was doing an action film. — Sylvester Stallone

I'd love to continue my career in Hollywood - I'd love to do another action film, or a romantic comedy, or horror. I love horror films. — Rain

I guess my first digital movie was 'Tintin' because 'Tintin' has no film step. There is no intermediate film step. It's 100% digital animation, but as far as a live-action film, I'm still planning to shoot everything on film. — Steven Spielberg

I just have more fun when I get to try new things - and the action film genre has kind of painted itself into a corner, copied itself so many times and it has basically run out of bad buys. — Bruce Willis

The film [Stalker] needs to be slower and duller at the start so that the viewers who walked into the wrong theatre have time to leave before the main action starts. — Andrei Tarkovsky

In any film, there are 10 male roles for 1 female role, especially in the action films. They're heavy with the guys. — Marcia Gay Harden

It's very important to not repeat yourself. After 'Delhi Belly,' I was offered 40 'Delhi Belly's and you can't do that! So 'Revolver Rani' is dark and gritty with action, 'Sooper Se Oopar' is a big commercial love story, 'Santa Banta' is a 'theth' Punjabi comedy, 'Golu Aur Pappu' is a kids' film and 'Amit Sahni Ki List' is an urban romcom. — Vir Das

I always wanted to do some sort of action film - even a superhero movie - and when 'Lucy' came out, I was like, 'That's what I want to do.' — Sarah Snook

Voice acting is very interesting, I've done several animated projects, and you have to make the voice reflect the character and try and do as much with a word as you can with a look in a live-action film. — William Shatner

I think what makes a good action film is a story that gets you involved. Just action, by itself, is not going to work. — Jan De Bont

An action film can have too much action; picture an equaliser on a stereo, with all the knobs pegged at 10. It becomes a cacophony and is, ultimately, quite boring. — Shane Black

Indian actors, because of the format of our stories, need to be good actors, and be able to perform emotional sequences, do a bit of comedy, dance and singing, action, because all of this forms just one film. In many ways I'd say there are greater demands on Indian actors than there are on Hollywood. — Amitabh Bachchan

One of my goals is definitely break into film, and I want to do action movies as well. — Derek Theler

In acting you do a lot of research. Audience watch Jet Li because of the fight. They watch other actors because they are funny. If they want funny, they don't want to see Jet Li, they watch the other guy. That's the reality I face, until the one day I can prove I can make film without action that is a fun movie. Then everybody will say Jet Li, hmmm. — Jet Li

We all grew up in that era. I'm a little younger than these guys [Will Forte and John Solomon], but I would say all of us are huge fans of the original "MacGyver" series, and obviously we found that inspiration for the original pitch for MacGruber. We took his name and made it stupid. In terms of the inspiration for the movie, that really came from our love for late '80s/early '90s action movies - the whole "Lethal Weapon" series and "Rambo" and "Die Hard," every single [Arnold] Schwarzenegger and [Sylvester] Stallone film. — Will Forte

You get dinged for wanting to do a comedy, then wanting to do a big-budget action film, and then wanting to do an indie. But you can't let other people trying to label you get in the way of trying to do something artistically. — Nicolas Cage

A film is like a battleground. It's love, hate, action, violence, death - In one word, emotions. — Samuel Fuller

In my mind, martial arts movies are martial arts movies and action is action. It's quite different, because martial arts doesn't just have physical form; you have a philosophy, internal and external. A lot of it involves your life. How you see the world. An action film I think is just about the movement. I think it's different. — Jet Li

Obviously, you know, I am known as an action director, and being a film editor previously had been a great advantage for me as an action director. — John Glen

I went in right up front and said, This can't be about some guy in bandages. I didn't even want to do a horror movie. I took the concept and made a romantic adventure film. I like action heroes who don't take themselves too seriously. I wanted to make everyone take the mummy seriously, but it couldn't just be a guy in bandages. But the main thing was to build in surprises. That's one of the great things you can do with special effects. — Stephen Sommers

But, it is hard too, because I want to do another action film. Believe it or not, it was fun. — Shane West

Back when I used to struggle with how I could define myself in the film business, I knew that I'd always remain true to myself and what I wanted to accomplish. The style of action I showcase is quite different from other stars we usually see, but I'm remaining true to myself, and hopefully this comes across. — Scott Adkins

There's good art and there's bad art. A lot of action films are bad art, but Paul Greengrass showed us with the Bourne films that it's possible to make an action film with a political, social conscience. — Joe Wright

Id like to do an action film or a dark sort of independent piece. — Devon Sawa

It seemed like a hybrid of Spinal Tap, the British The Office, and something entirely original. Scenes would be blocked and rehearsed almost like a play, with entire scenes performed top to bottom many times. Two or three cameras would find the action and just follow the actors as they moved around. Actors often didn't know when they were on camera or where the cameras were. "Spy shots" lent a sense of intimacy to moments. Actors were allowed to look into the camera to show their reactions to things and spoke directly to the camera with "talking heads," used to further the story or display another side of what a character was feeling.15, 16 Camera operators were very close or very far away but a dynamic part of the action. We would shoot eight or nine pages in a twelve-hour day, which is about double what one shoots on a feature film. — Amy Poehler

I was keen to direct an action film, and when Reliance approached me for the remake of 'Singham,' I saw an opportunity to return to my first love. — Rohit Shetty

It's something that I am going over in my head about the whole video game thing, and whether you support violence by being in a film like this. I mean, to me, it's incredibly unreal and it's all about the action, and just explosions. — Rosamund Pike

I'm going to make a film where not one word is really important. I'm going to make it all action. — Elia Kazan

I mean you can go wherever you want with it really. No matter what story you're telling you're always representing some reality. You are always representing human beings, their fears, their shortcomings, their braveries, their doubts, their loves, their abilities, their brilliance and those things inevitably lead to bigger political systems, foreign policy and crime and religion. It's an action film. We are not taking a stance about big government. — Colin Farrell

It feels so good to be able to be part of an action flick like 'The Raid' and to read the rave reviews in a number of film festivals. — Joe Taslim

Well I'm Superman, just not action. I'm kind of looking for something with a lot less action and more talking and listening. I also have a film that's premiering Vegas Film Festival, short film, directed by Joel Kelly, it's called Denial and it's a story, short film, 35 mm short film and it's about a man's struggle to choose between the woman of his dreams and his reality, so it's definitely different than Superman. So I'm really proud of that. — Brandon Routh

I will always continue to make stupid action films but I think 'V For Vendetta' is a very smart film and I think that people will feel differently about things when they see it. — Joel Silver

I have a lot of things I want to do. I have a lot of fire. I want to do film. I want to do action movies. I want to do period pieces. — Monica Raymund

I'm looking to do an action film where I can run with my shirt off and a gun in my hand; and do like a 'Taken' role and get up on one knee and kill the bad guy. — Bobb'e J. Thompson

with you, the sense i have lost my place in a book
or simply lost - misplaced the memory
which isn't in the last place where I looked.
a thought that the clouds don't move - that it is we
who thunder past - there it is! an old vacation,
a train ride - sense of immobility.
as sky and forest scroll past in relation,
we are not moved, pretend to love the view,
resort at length to scripted conversation
by a poet-turned-screenwriter who
didn't want this job, career gone grossly wrong
and now drafts action film scripts wholly two-
dimensional unless you choose to don
the 3d glasses that do not stay on - — Joshua Ip

On a live-action movie, things happen that are unexpected. In animation, you have to fabricate the feeling. That takes a tremendous amount of nuance until the film becomes sentient and gives back. — Gore Verbinski

Film is a battleground. Love, hate, violence, action, death ... In a word, emotion. — Samuel Fuller

The world of Ultimate Spider-Man is funny. I can't imagine a live-action film where he's Principal Coulson and dealing with some of the pranks from these guys. — Clark Gregg

Working on a film, the setup for an action sequence takes a long time, and we need to shoot the scene many times to get different angles. — Jet Li

Plays are literature: the word, the idea. Film is much more like the form in which we dream - in action and images (Television is furniture). I think a great play can only be a play. It fits the stage better than it fits the screen. Some stories insist on being film, can't be contained on stage. In the end, all writing serves to answer the same question: Why are we alive? And the form the question takes - play, film, novel - is dictated, I suppose, by whether its story is driven by character or place. — Israel Horovitz

I get mad when people call me an action movie star. Indiana Jones is an adventure film, a comic book, a fantasy. — Harrison Ford

They eviscerated the book by making it an action movie for young people aged 15 to 25, and it seems that The Hobbit will be the same kind of film. — Christopher Tolkien

Action film is really easy to do, you just get in a car and smash through things and it's called action. The real key is what happens between the action when it's quiet. Loud is easy. Quiet, real hard. — Sylvester Stallone

I can't impress people with the pedigree of obscure French filmmakers that got me into film. It was Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg. I really thought I wanted to make dumb action movies. — Doug Liman

People assume that 'The Expendables' is old school, but it's only old school because that's the way I know how to make an action film. It's pretty real. — Sylvester Stallone

With 'Toy Story,' which is a fantastic film but is essentially animation, you get to make all your decisions beforehand. 'Jumanji' is shot much like any other action film. — Joe Johnston

I'd love to do an action film. I'd love to do a film based on a book series; I love to read the book and then go see the movie. I'd love to have a show on Disney; I love working for them. And I'm also working on getting some new music out of my own. — Katherine McNamara

Reading is a heady thing. You can be into the action of someone's thoughts and take a whole trip down someone's ruminations while seconds tick by in the world that they're in, but you can't really do that in film. — Alan Tudyk

I think my mom is the inspiration of me wanting to do film and TV and be an actor because she loved film so much. She loved, like, horror films and action films, so growing up, she loved watching all the Charles Bronson films and all the westerns. — Rick Gonzalez

Carl Rinsch has a good balance between the visual and the drama and action, so I thought if he's going to direct, we can make a new, epic film. My fear was gone when I met him. — Hiroyuki Sanada

I think in television and film, it's not usually the child's point of view. It's the story of an adult. If there's a child in a drama or an action-adventure movie, they're someone who needs to be saved, someone who needs to be protected, or if they're killed, someone who needs to be avenged. Their character doesn't matter much. — George R R Martin

Eventually, in '84, we made a film for a little over a million dollars - with American actors that was shot in English - that was shown in Finland A little action film called Born American. — Renny Harlin

I like the variety. But basically my choice of films is a small intimate film. Quiet film, no action, just people in relationships. That's what I like the most. — Jerry Goldsmith

I think, in Japan, animation isn't relegated to being a genre unto itself. It's just a medium by which you can tell any number of stories, be it horror or action or adventure or drama or whatever, and we're trying to do that as well. Every film that you go see from Pixar, we're hoping is a little bit of a surprise. — Pete Docter

I don't ever want to go backwards, I quite like it. I like the freedom and I like the - What I set out to do was to make a big action-adventure movie that ticks all the boxes in terms of audience expectations and spectacle, and yet also make a very personal film and it feels like I've gotten away with that, I've managed that. — Joe Wright

I'd like to do an action film like Angelina Jolie's 'Salt.' — Katrina Kaif

I'd like to drill in a little more detail into one aspect of cutting which is particularly close to me and that's dialogue editing. It is a vital part of editing especially in animated film, but in the end it is usually completely transparent to the audience. The vocal performances are reported for over several years and the actors are very rarely in recording studios together. That's why the editor has got to all these different performances and edit them together to create the illusion of spontaneity and real action. — Lee Unkrich

I think there are three types of actors. There are the ones that do the ego thing, which is "I'm never going to look bad in a movie, ever." This is mostly the action film dudes, like, "Nah, hell no. He ain't punchin' me! I'd whoop his ass!" — Michelle Rodriguez

In all the movies I'm in love with someone in my head. There's always love in a film somewhere. It doesn't matter even if it's an action movie. — Channing Tatum

I think I'd like to play more happy roles because I haven't done too many of those. I think I'd like to do an action film; something with a harness would be fun. — Megan Charpentier

So I get all the references and I totally get the humor and it's really fun. This - it's kind of a mash up of so many different genres and things that kind of, sort of are just part of youth culture right now. Music and action and video games, and it's kind of amazing to see it all piled into one film. — Mary Elizabeth Winstead

You do a movie and, even if it's not a comedy or it's not an action film, you get a little taste of it, and then I want to do it full force. — Ashley Greene

What interests Sam Mendes are characters and relationships, and he was a genius at giving you the freedom to create the type of character you want, and also to explore and have fun with your fellow actors. For him, characters and relationships are really the heartbeat of the film, and then the action is the backdrop. By developing the characters, he makes you care that much more about the action and going on a journey with the characters. — Naomie Harris

We see films all the time, whether they have access to all kinds of intellectual property or artifacts, and the one thing that they don't get is story. So I think whether you're talking about a biopic or an action film or a science-fiction film that has all the CGI in the world, if you're not trying to connect with an audience, it doesn't really matter. — John Ridley

Screenwriting involves an often un-personal process. Co-writers, directors, producers, everyone has a say in what you put on a page, and stories are constantly changing according to budget, actors, and commercial needs. Films are a collaborative process and are also inherently narrative and structured, so you are always working within very tight parameters. Short fiction unleashes a more intimate voice and a passion for language. I believe short narratives can have the same amount of danger and drama as any action film. — Chiara Barzini

'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,' while not nearly the masterpiece proclaimed by many critics, is certainly a fascinating cross-species: a big-budget summer action fantasy with a sylvan, indie-film vibe, and a war movie that dares ask its audience to root for the peacemakers. — Richard Corliss

But the action film genre is gonna have to come up with some new bad guys. — Bruce Willis

I was very happy with Vampire's Kiss, which in my opinion was almost like an independent laboratory to start realizing some of my more expressionistic dreams with film performance. Then using what I had learned in Vampire's Kiss and putting it into a very big action movie in the form of Face/Off with John Woo. If you look at those two movies back to back, you can see where I stole from my performance in Vampire's Kiss. — Nicolas Cage

Because I once became so distraught watching the film 'Watership Down,' my parents were happier to let me watch action adventures featuring humans and warriors rather than cute animals. — Rhianna Pratchett

You'd have a list of notes of things that the player did and they'd want you to do it that way in practice. So they'd say, 'He's a guy who bites really hard on play action, so every time you see this play, do it that way. You want to give the quarterback a good look. You're not reading it as you, you're reading it as them. Play how they play and not how you play.' Now, you've got to learn all your stuff, too, because you want to be on the team. So you're watching film of you being him and you being you."

- Matt Chatham — Michael Holley

From my experience as an actor, choreographer, action director, and producer, I understand the elements and the dynamics of being a film maker. — Donnie Yen

I find animated movies very touching. They reach an audience that's hard to get with a live-action film. — Steve Martin