Quotes & Sayings About Action Films

Usually action films have a formula: good guy gets in trouble, his wife dies, friends have problems, so he goes to the mountain, learns martial arts, comes back, and kills the bad guy. — Jet Li

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

I love action films. It's my favorite genre. — Til Schweiger

I love action-adventure-type films - mythical adventures like 'Lord of the Rings' or superhero films like 'Batman.' — Zac Efron

I think that Lethal Weapon-style dialogue is overused, it's a necessary aspect of high action films where you have to have the smart retort. You have to say "I'll be back baby" and stuff. It's not my style. — George Lucas

In silent films, quite complex plots are built around action, setting, and the actors' gestures and facial expressions, with a very few storyboards to nail down specific plot points. — Laurie R. King

When Clark Gable, MGM's most popular and famous leading man asked for a percentage of the profits from his films, he was flatly refused. A top executive was reported to have said, He's nobody. We took him from nobody. We lavished him with lessons and publicity and now he's the most desired man in the world. Who taught him how to walk? We straightened his teeth and capped them into that smile. We taught this dumb cluck how to depict great emotions, and now he wants a piece of the action? Never! — Jeanine Basinger

In the West, audiences think I am a stereotyped action star, or that I always play hitmen or killers. But in Hong Kong, I did a lot of comedy, many dramatic films, and most of all, romantic roles, lots of love stories. I was like a romance novel hero. — Chow Yun-Fat

With the tone of the show, like a lot of the films, the Marvel creative team has found a way to bridge really exciting stuff that has real stakes. They balance some of the action stuff that the fans of the comics really want to see with characters that people can relate to and who are very human. — Clark Gregg

I love doing action. And I love doing dramatic films, and I'd never really been able to combine them. — Angelina Jolie

One of the great things about the 'Iron Man' franchise is that they employ fascinating actors who don't necessarily do action movies. Before 'Iron Man' you didn't associate Robert Downey, Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow with those kinds of films. There's an emphasis on repartee and wit. — Rebecca Hall

I grew up in a drive-in theater, from the time I was 8, working in a snack bar watching four features every week. It was silent theater in the sense that this was a drive-in, which meant that I often saw the films going with no sound. But I learned to tell stories through action. — Twyla Tharp

Because I do so many action-oriented films, I started working with stunt people doing fight training, then I found it to be just great exercise. Also I like to be fit, so I've continued on with fight training. Right before I got to do 'Conan,' I was fighting off four guys. Its great fun. And strange. — Rose McGowan

Everybody gets typecast in movies, but you have to make wise choices. I'd say around 90 percent of movie casting is about the way you look, so you have to fight that. If producers had their way, I'd only be in action films, but I'm interested in a more varied career than that. — Famke Janssen

One of the tricky things about sort of larger, comic-book action movies is that the scale is so big that they have to save the world at the end of every movie, and so at the end of each of the films, either Chicago or New York end up getting obliterated. — Graham Moore

Action films can be like watching paint dry. You can just die in the trailer waiting for them to set up a shot, then you go out for a few minutes or an hour of endurance testing. — Pierce Brosnan

I love adventure movies, I just love action adventure films. It's pure cinema and you go in and you're lost to it. To me, it's that challenge - I want to give an audience that ride, that entertainment. — Tom Cruise

I love musicals and music driven films, and my first instinct is to tell the story. And when music is a big part of the action I can literally make the story sing! — David Raiklen

I don't mind running; I don't mind taking a few knocks. But hopefully, it's just not 'Sam's an action dude.' That, to me, is not what I wanted. I wanted to bring a sense of weight and emotionality of doing Australian films and bring that into a bigger blockbuster, so you're not just kind of grunting and groaning and running around. — Sam Worthington

I think for me when you look at the idea of being able to create a limitless world and use it almost as a playground for action and adventure and so forth, I naturally gravitate towards cinematic worlds, whether it's the Bond films and things like that. — Christopher Nolan

I enjoy doing an action scene. I'm not a purist as far as films go. If you want to do sex, great. As long as you do it well. — Keira Knightley

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

I love action films, and to be able to put together 'Silver Hawk' was so exciting. — Michelle Yeoh

By showing hunger, deprivation, starvation and brutality, as well as endurance and nobility, documentaries inform, prod our memories, even stir us to action. Such films do battle for our very soul. — Theodore Bikel

The funny thing about murder is that the act is often committed decades before the actual action. Something happens, and it leads, inexorably, to death many years later. A bad seed is planted. It's like those old horror films from the Hammer studios, of the monster, not running, never running, but walking without pause, without thought or mercy, toward its victim. Murder is often like that. It starts way far off. — Louise Penny

My films can be considered political action against the tyranny of good taste. — John Waters

If you look at the films that I've done generally, you would probably get an idea of what I'm most interested in, and if ever I do something unusual like a science fiction film or an action film or a comedy or something, then that to me feels like a step to the side to do something different. — Guy Pearce

I've done a lot of films that are purely live-action roles, and even if I hadn't come across performance capture as a technology, I think I'd always consider myself a sort of mercurial actor. — Andy Serkis

I made a few movies in Holland for a lot of TV series. I came to Los Angeles and for the last 10 years, I made a lot of feature films - all kinds of low budget action movies for the studios. — Roel Reine

As a spectator, I have very eclectic taste, whether it's comedies or action or very small, intimate films. And I feel as a filmmaker I should be able to have that same eclectic taste. — Patrice Leconte

I like working on action films, and I like working on movies that are comic book based because they're things I watched or loved as a kid. — Megan Fox

I hope to do big action movies and strong dramas, and to produce films. I also want to get kids more involved in what's going on in the world and to be politically active. — Caity Lotz

Action films have a certain illogicalness to them. They're what we call, when we're working, 'exaggerated realism.' — Nick Nolte

As far as action is concerned, our films have been coming up with some great sequences. In fact, I think Hollywood is copying Bollywood by getting their heroes to bash up 15 guys at a time. — Vijender Singh

I've made a way to allow myself to do big films, small films, dramas, comedies, action films, horror films, or whatever interests me, as a movie-goer. I like watching myself in movies. I want to choose movies that allow me to enjoy myself, the way that I want to entertain myself. — Samuel L. Jackson

I'd love to work with Tarantino, Scorsese, Sofia Coppola - all of them! I love thrillers and action movies. I love good horror films. I watched them so much when I was younger that I find it impossible to get scared. — Cara Delevingne

I love it all. I don't want to go through my career with one hand tied behind my back. I love making kids happy. I love the midnight audience. I like intense dramas. And I like high-adrenaline action films. — Nicolas Cage

I could've ended up in action films forever. But the comedy thing has been my forte. — Terry Crews

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

You never hear of a live-action studio that has been making so-so films looking over at a studio that's making great movies and going, 'Oh, we see the difference - we're using a different camera.' — John Lasseter

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

The marketing department is really an important part of getting an animated film to work. If the people running it are used to selling live action films and the hard rock music and the sex and all those things ... Anything outside that, they just don't know what to do with it. — Don Bluth

As you can probably tell, I like films and directors that bring a totally unique style to filming action. — John Foster

Die Hard represents the class of modern action pictures and the standard by which they must be judged. Few films falling into the "mindless entertainment" genre have as much going for them as this movie. Not only is it a thrill-a-minute ride, but it has one of the best film villains in recent memory, a hero everyone can relate to, dialogue that crackles with wit, and a lot of very impressive pyrotechnics. — James Berardinelli

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

The action films I will make in the future will be more believable and character-based. I am now on my second cycle of fame, and I want to make films that smell real and are truthful. — Jean-Claude Van Damme

I worked for Sam Peckinpah on quite a bit of action in his films, and he got excited once in a while. — Richard Farnsworth

Actually, I can't stand watching violent scenes in films; I avoid watching horror films. I don't tend to watch action films mainly because I find them boring, but I watch the films of David Cronenberg and Martin Scorsese, usually in a state close to having a heart attack. I'm a complete coward. I make violent films as a result of my sensitivity to violence - in other words, my fear of violence. — Park Chan-wook

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

I love doing action films that do challenge me physically. I feel it's my job to keep my stamina up and be as physically fit as possible, so that I can just jump in and do it. It takes its toll sometimes and it's hard work, but I love that. — Julie Benz

I still like the run and gun action movies and how truly dangerous it can be to make these films. — Megan Fox

The funny thing about my films is that you can make little piles of them. You could make little piles of the movie that were family movies, you could make a little art movie pile, you could make a little action movie pile. — Julianne Moore

It is incredibly daunting to take on a live-action story. I think that it adds a level of complexity to the responsibility that goes beyond what I've experienced on these two films (The Lorax and Horton Hears a Who). — Christopher Meledandri

Action films are great, but an action film that has characters that are compelling and a story that people can care about is something even better. We love to see action heroes that are vulnerable, that are sensitive, that are family people, that are accessible. — Steven Seagal

They sat with it in silence for a while. Bosch ran it all through once more and couldn't knock it down. It was only case theory but it held together. It worked, but it didn't mean that it was the way it had happened. Every case had unanswered questions and loose ends when it came to motives and actions. Bosch always though that if you started with the assumption that murder is an unreasonable action, then how could there ever be a fully reasonable explanation for it? It was that understanding that kept him from watching and being able to enjoy films and television shows about detectives. He found them unrealistic in their delivery of what the general audience wanted: all of the answers. — Michael Connelly

I didn't really watch action films growing up! I grew up on stuff like 'Anne of Green Gables' - that was more when I was in elementary school. It was all I ever watched. — Gina Carano

Hollywood seems to succumb to fads. Well, action films do well. Give me violence. Give me a scene where there's a couple of car chases or shooting and stuff like that. They're forgetting the fact that there's a basic structure to a story that is essential to making it really broad and appealing. — Clint Eastwood

There are some long silences in Scandinavian and some Japanese films, when the audience knows action is taking place, but the audience hears no action. — John Henrik Clarke

Very few people make exterior movies anymore. It's always action films driven by action and quick editing. — Janusz Kaminski

I love action films. I don't really like drama. — Danny Trejo

I do love action films and I hope I'm going to do many more and learn lots of new crafts 'cause that's the joy of movies. — Luke Evans

I love animated films when they are good, because they do bring a lot of emotion and heart that's very difficult to get in a live action film. — Steve Martin

For me, to take a movie and travel the world and go and work with these cultures and an international cast and have this spy thriller that's not just about character but also action and suspense, they're very challenging films as a producer to make, creating stories, creating set pieces that serve this character [Ethan Hunt]. — Tom Cruise

I've spent my life doing action films and most of my own stunts, so my teeth have been knocked out along the way. It happened so frequently that I can't even remember where I lost most of them. — James Cosmo

I would love to try action films. — Tracy Morgan

I've wanted to follow my dad into acting for as long as I can remember. 'I've had a very serious round of dramatic training, and I like action films that take their characters seriously, so I figure I'm making it the best of both worlds if I try to bring some serious acting to a shoot-'em-up picture. — Brandon Lee

I'm really interested in mythology and folklore. I'm interested in moralities, why we're here, faith ... all of these bigger questions that I think we can place in films that allow us to question and give us a safe place to feel. Those types of questions can pop up in all sorts of different types of films - drama, comedy, action movie. — Brie Larson

Maybe because I come from choreography, I've always felt that there's something about action films that made it very natural for me to go that way. It's story through movement. — Rob Marshall

One of my favorite things about the Kung Fu Panda 3 is the look of it. We never go for realism. I think a lot of time when people go for 3D that's the mistake. Because we're never going for full realism - for computer generated live action films like Avatar the goal is realism, to make the audience feel like they are seeing something that is real. Lord of the Rings had character design and environments to make it look real, whereas we aren't going for that, we are going for something that is theatrically, viscerally, and emotionally real. — Jennifer Yuh Nelson

People use location as a language in films, and Quentin uses action as a language in his films. There's really not a lot of violence. It's more of an emotional beat than it is a physical beat. — Lucy Liu

I'll watch anything, from action to art films. — Nathaniel Philbrick

Most people who'll remember me, if at all, will remember me as an action guy, which is okay. There's nothing wrong with that. But there will be a certain group which will remember me for the other films, the ones where I took a few chances. At least, I like to think so. — Clint Eastwood

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

I still don't understand why the tag of 'action hero' follows me. My films have all these elements - romance, action and comedy. None of the fight sequences of my character is an act of randomness. There's a reason to action in my films. — Sunny Deol

I've made a lot of stupid action films in my life but I like stupid action films and am kind of proud of them. — Joel Silver

Good action films - not crap, but good action films - are really morality plays. They deal in modern, mythic culture. — Sylvester Stallone

Audiences like me doing action and comedy. I am a jovial person and have been so from childhood. I like to laugh my way through my work, and that attitude reflects in my roles. Even women hate me doing rona-dhona roles. So I don't do emotional films. — Ravi Teja

Moving from chair to chair, from coffee machine to coffee machine is the limit of my action in most films. But I enjoy being cast in them because I love watching them. — Stephen Fry

Suddenly, Westerns, which were our action films and what the working man went to see to blow off steam and have a good time, became boring to most people growing up from the Eighties on, because they're kind of pastoral. — Quentin Tarantino

I have been a big fan of the 'Fast and the Furious' franchise. The films are fast-paced, fun and keep the audience involved. There is a great mix of humor and action, something I really appreciate. — Tony Jaa

You usually find me writing what I like to think of as intelligent summer action and genre films. — Max Landis

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

Most Pixar films are better than most live action films. — Wesley Morris

When we look at films, we usually see only the action. Yet it is the decision to act that helps us understand how the character's mind works. — Linda Seger

There's something very terrifying about that and very primal about it. It's my belief that what horror does for people is that it provides that primal fear that, when we were wild hunter-gatherers, we had as part of our natural lives because maybe something was trying to hunt and gather you as well. We don't have that anymore in life and that's one of the things that horror films and action films provide for us. — Paul W. S. Anderson

I'm looking at some comedic horror films because I have often been accused of being too dark. I'm not dark, not compared with 'Saw' or anything like that. So I'm looking at live-action horror films, but not slasher ones - ones that have humor and maybe some social satire. — Henry Selick

The literary experience extends impression into discourse. It flowers to thought with nouns, verbs, objects. It thinks. Film implodes discourse, it deliterates thought, it shrinks it to the compacted meaning of the preverbal impression or intuition or understanding. You receive what you see, you don't have to think it out ... Fiction goes everywhere, inside, outside, it stops, it goes, its action can be mental. Nor is it time-driven. Film is time-driven, it never ruminates, it shows the outside of life, it shows behavior. It tends to the simplest moral reasoning. Films out of Hollywood are linear. The narrative simplification of complex morally consequential reality is always the drift of a film inspired by a book. Novels can do anything in the dark horrors of consciousness. Films do close-ups, car drive-ups, places, chases and explosions. — E.L. Doctorow

We're not just horror fans. We're film fans. I love action films. I want to do action films. I want to do romantic comedies. I love all this stuff. So, if I find the good material, I'll do it. — James Wan

My teacher, Ben Johnston, was convinced that our tuning is responsible for much of our cultural psychology, the fact that we are so geared toward progress and action and violence and so little attuned to introspection, contentment, and acquiescence. Equal temperament could be described as the musical equivalent to eating a lot of red meat and processed sugars and watching violent action films. The music doesn't turn your attention inward, it makes you want to go out and work off your nervous energy on something. — Kyle Gann

I like action films, not exclusively, but I like Samurai films. I like Westerns. Not so much war pictures, but a few. I like kinetic cinema. — Alexander Payne

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

A book is maybe about 350 pages, and the prose allows for readers to get a glimpse into the internal lives of the characters. A screenplay is 120 pages, and it's all dialogue and action. The pacing of films is different, the structure is often different, and the internal lives of the characters must come across through the acting. Movies are just a different experience than reading - so it just depends on what an individual prefers. — Nicholas Sparks

All of my films I've made have had an element of physicality and action but I really enjoy the drama of it because it's where I feel I'm really doing something. — Channing Tatum

I mean, I love action films, you know, good action films. — Adam Scott

Directing is not on my agenda, but writing is. I want to write everything from action, superhero films to quiet dramas, smaller films. — David Dastmalchian

It's all choreographed; it's a routine. So I told everyone I really wanted to try fighting in action films. I had no stunt experience, but I had the dance background, and I was very agile and coordinated. And the best thing about being a newcomer to acting is you can afford to try new things. — Michelle Yeoh

The person that made me want to make movies, and the reason I do films, is Bruce Lee. He was an incredible actor, and he had a lot of charisma. Handsome, action, you know, everything was there. I loved Bruce Lee. — LL Cool J

Live-action has always been my focus and my passion. I love voice-over, and I definitely could see myself doing some voice-over, as much as I could, and even if I ended up doing only that for the rest of my life, and I could be successful at it, that would be great. But I think my real dream is to do films and live-action films. — Jeremy Shada

The movies that made me want to make movies were action movies, and thrillers, and Kurosawa films, you know, where you have an opportunity every day to shoot it in an unusual way. I was looking for something like that. — Lawrence Kasdan