Donner Quotes & Sayings

Richard Donner is one of the few directors in Hollywood that can make whatever movie he wants exactly the way he wants it. No one will stop him. — Lana Wachowski

How was I going to make a man fly? How was I going to convince the public that an actor could fly? — Richard Donner

December 16, 1846, the fifteen composing the "Forlorn Hope," left Donner Lake. January 17, 1847, as they reached Johnson's ranch; and February 5th Capt. Tucker's party started to the assistance of the emigrants. This first relief arrived February 19th at the cabins; the second relief, or Reed's party, arrived March 1st; the third, or Foster's, about the middle of March; and the fourth, or Fallon's, on the seventeenth of April. Upon the arrival of Capt. Fallon's company, the sight presented at the cabins beggars all description. Capt. R. P. Tucker, now of Goleta, Santa Barbara County, Cal., endeavors, in his correspondence, to give a slight idea of the scene. — C.F. McGlashan

They fired director Richard Donner because they didn't want to pay him, and he's the reason the franchise became so successful in the first place. There's a big part of Superman II that he did that no one has ever seen. — Margot Kidder

Freedom is the total absence of concern about yourself. — Florinda Donner

When you make a film, you like to run it with an audience. They tell you you're narrow-minded or subjective, or that seems too long, or that doesn't work. — Richard Donner

I think it's good to tell the fans "this movie's going to lead to that, and that will lead to ... " — Lauren Shuler Donner

When Lillian left work in the early evening the streets were slick and shiny with rain and the lamps flared yellow giving her the melancholy feeling that always came with the rain and the dark. She'd just struggled to push up her umbrella when the farmer from Saskatchewan came out of the shadows and tipped his hat again, very politely, and said could he escort her home? She put her small hand on his broad arm and held the umbrella over both their heads (he was very tall) and he walked her all the way back to her lodging-house where the landlady, Mrs Raicevic, looked after Edmund after school. By then, Lillian had learned the farmer's name and she said, 'Edmund, this is Mr Donner,' and Pete Donner squatted right down and said, 'Hello there, Edmund, you can call me Pete.' Although he never did, preferring to call him 'Pop' almost from the day his mother married him. — Kate Atkinson

Pulling out onto the highway I noticed a stone pillar commemorating the Donner Party. They were a true testament to the American spirit, push forward at all costs and eat the dead when necessary. Wasn't that the American dream in a nutshell. — Josh Stallings

Now, 'Dasher!' now, 'Dancer!' now, 'Prancer' and 'Vixen!'
On, 'Comet!' on, 'Cupid!' on, 'Donner' and 'Blitzen!' — Clement Clarke Moore

For me it's important to get the origin of the character like in the Richard Donner superman. We saw him became slowly a super hero but i think it's important to take time and stay realistic. — Xavier Gens

Richard Donner's friendship and guidance showed me that there's more to life than being an actor. — Jeff Cohen

What I'm always afraid of is going off-book,I always get upset when the director leaves the classic comic that was so very popular. I argued, and I won't say with who about what, but when we go way away from the original source material ... that material is popular for a reason and I like to stick with it. — Lauren Shuler Donner

I'm open to comments. I'm open to objective points of view, because I've been very narrow and very subjective. — Richard Donner

When I was doing half-hour shows, I loved it and was preparing myself for the hour shows. Then when I did the hour shows, I was preparing myself for the specials and features. — Richard Donner

It's only been a couple of times in my life that I've really locked horns with actors. It did not hurt the films, it just hurt the moment of the filmmaking. — Richard Donner

I always feel like every film takes the franchise and hangs it in the balance. — Lauren Shuler Donner

I was tweaked by the idea of Superman immediately. — Richard Donner

I've always wanted to do a Crichton book. I really love his writing. — Richard Donner

I'd been a Superman fan since the time I was a little kid. We had great respect for the Donner movie, and Superman II with Terence Stamp as Zod but I felt it was time to bring the character into the 21st century. — Charles Roven

It's just a great, legendary comic book hero and it's one that has never been kind of been brought back to life after Lynda Carter. I mean, it's a reinvention. When Tim Burton reinvented Batman after Adam West, and when Donner reinvented Superman after George Reeves, it's time to do that with Wonder Woman. — Joel Silver

In motion pictures, the actor rules. The camera served the actor. — Richard Donner

In Sacramento it is fiery summer always, and you can gather roses, and eat strawberries and ice cream, and wear white linen clothes, and pant and perspire, at eight or nine o'clock in the morning, and then take the cars, and at noon put on your furs and your skates, and go skimming over frozen Donner Lake...There is transition for you! Where will you find another like it in the western hemisphere? — Mark Twain

That's how you get a performance - they put trust in you. — Richard Donner

Soon it's all going to be digital anyway. It's all going to be saved on a little coin somewhere. — Richard Donner

A writer writes always! (Larry Donner, Throw Mama from the Train) — Trish Isabella Hopkins

This sacrifice of a pawn nowadays is only played for drawing purposes. Especially against the very strongest masters it has proved to be quite useful to this end. — Jan Hein Donner

When I originally sold X-Men it was because I knew there was 40 years of stories. That was the point! Not only to do the movie and establish the characters, you know, you love the one you're doing. It was because there are all these great stories, what a wealth of drama. — Lauren Shuler Donner

If the food supply runs out, try trapping or hunting animals. For most people, this won't be easy. If you can't catch any animals, it's time to throw a Donner party. — Andrew Shaffer

'The Dark Knight,' 'The Rocketeer' and definitely the first 'Superman' movie by Richard Donner are the best. I tend to be softer in my judgment about what's a bad movie - I don't think anyone intends to make a bad movie, and sometimes it just doesn't click for some reason. — Jim Lee

It takes years for average persons in the nagual's world to remove themselves from their involvement with themselves and be capable of seeing the wonder of it all. — Florinda Donner

Donner likes what he does and enjoys being on a set. He doesn't have to do it, its not like he has to make the rent. When I get to be his age and still enjoy what I'm doing like him, I'd be lucky. — Ethan Embry

Superman was never previewed because the producers didn't trust Warners with the film. — Richard Donner

It was the beginning of film for television. So we had all of these great opportunities. Northwestern was probably the only major film school of its kind at the time that was graduating anybody important. — Richard Donner

It was 1978 when Superman came out, and I kept thinking, Why don't they do something about it? They've done all these crappy attempts at comic book film adaptations. What can we do different? Why don't we just re-release this thing? — Richard Donner

What surprised me most about the Donner tragedy was that, given the terrible circumstances, how anyone survived at all. — Rodman Philbrick

I think the time has changed. Because of 9/11, because of the economy, it is more and more now. There is a darker awareness, although it would seem to reason that because life is so much tougher now people would seek entertainment to just totally escape. — Lauren Shuler Donner

I was painting sets, working in editorial as an assistant, driving their trucks, lying that I knew how to drive a truck, and doing commercials and documentaries. — Richard Donner

Most people want to be led. But suppose they choose the wrong leader? They end up with the Donner party. — Louise Penny

Freedom will cost you the mask you have on, the mask that feels so comfortable and is so hard to shed off, not because it fits so well but because you have been wearing it so long. — Florinda Donner

I just trust the people involved. Marvel and DC for the last 16 years - is that 90 percent of the time it's incredible top talent. Like, this is what makes it different from the pre-2000 superhero movies. I would say, except Tim Burton and Richard Donner, it was generally, comic book movies were done by guys who weren't that into the material and people who didn't really respect the stuff. But as everything, whether it's Wolverine, X-Men, Avengers, Batman, all these things, it's just been done by top-tier people. I have total confidence that they'll continue that tradition of being great. — Mark Millar

The Internet also makes it extraordinarily difficult for me to focus. One small break to look up exactly how almond milk is made, and four hours later I'm reading about the Donner Party and texting all my friends: DID YOU GUYS KNOW ABOUT THE DONNER PARTY AND HOW MESSED UP THAT WAS? TEXT ME BACK SO WE CAN TALK ABOUT IT! — Mindy Kaling

I was really disappointed that Warner Bros. didn't think highly enough of my film or my filmmaking to ask me to make the new Superman. — Richard Donner

Dad decided not to vote for Donner after all. He didn't vote for anyone. He said politicians turned his stomach. — Octavia Butler

It was just the thrill of a lifetime. Brando and Hackman were two of my heroes. — Richard Donner

There's a moment in everybody's life when you're hopeless, just hopeless with hope and trust. And then something happens, something too big to understand, and then everything changes — Will Donner

Working with Christopher, he convinced me he could fly, and he's convinced me he's going to walk again. — Richard Donner

Chess is and will always be a game of chance. — Jan Hein Donner

Did not the Donner-Reed Party, after all, eat its own dead to reach Sacramento? — Joan Didion

I was an actor ... or, at least, I was trying to be an actor. — Richard Donner

Death is your truest friend, and your most reliable adviser. If you have doubts about the course of your life, you have only to consult your death for the proper direction. Death will never lie to you. — Florinda Donner

VERISIMILITUDE (the appearance or semblance of truth) — Richard Donner

I am a producer who NEVER discusses her budgets, EVER, ever ever. — Lauren Shuler Donner

People say, You paid your dues, but I never paid any dues. It's always been a great trip. — Richard Donner

At a certain point people want to see other movies besides comic book movies so you have to be really careful what you're going to pick, and how many are going to be released within a year. — Lauren Shuler Donner

I think what some people are doing with effects is starting to get silly. It's overused. — Richard Donner

With The Omen, I really felt I wasn't in control. It was panic. — Richard Donner

It's developing a relationship with actors that makes it work. — Richard Donner

I realized what you could do in motion pictures by surrounding yourself with geniuses. — Richard Donner

I had life threats, because people accused me of approaching Brando as God and his son was Jesus. I literally had people saying my blood would run in the streets for doing that. — Richard Donner

And the best way to quit being concerned with yourself is to be concerned about others. — Florinda Donner

When when my first feature opportunity came along, I wasn't prepared, but we did it in about 17 days. — Richard Donner

The number of people who are actual supporters of Mr. Romney could very well be less than the Donner Party, whose members they sadly resemble in many ways. — Henry Rollins

Civilized my syphilised yarbles. Music always sort of sharpened me up, O my brothers, and made me like feel like old Bog himself, ready to make with the old donner and blitzen and have vecks and ptitsas creeching away in my ha ha power. — Anthony Burgess

If you had the opportunity and some talent, there was no way you couldn't progress, because it was an open market. There was the advertising world, and there was the documentary world. — Richard Donner

I was very lucky. I started my own commercial company. — Richard Donner

Wow. Pioneers with ice-cream."
Joshua felt motivated to defend his home. "Well, it doesn't have to be like the Donner Party, Sally- — Stephen Baxter

Il ne faut point donner d'esprit a' ses personnages; mais savoir les placer dans des circonstances qui leur en donnent. You should not give wit to your characters, but know instead how to put them in situations which will make them witty. — Denis Diderot