Ellen Burstyn Quotes

Everybody knows when you've got a role in a Spike Lee movie, you're gonna blow up. But I happen to be the only person who's had the lead in the two Spike Lee movies nobody saw.

Nobody in the world knew about Megan Fox until I found her and put her in 'Transformers.' I like to think that I've had some luck in building actors' careers with my films.

I was thrown in the deep end at 18 when I got cast in a movie that I didn't audition for. The director just sort of found me and put me in a film, so the decision was really made for me.

When you're in something as successful as 'Transformers,' you can't use it as a sales piece for your ability as an actress because it's all about the special effects.

I've never wanted to be the hottest star. I always wanted to do good movies.

'Election' made zero money at the box office, but it started my career.

After we shot the first 'Twilight,' we organized our own wrap party. We really didn't know what this was going to be. Something like that can come at you unexpectedly, and you just have to try your best to deal with it.

'Argo' was a great script from day one. I don't think we knew that it was going to be such a success.

It only happens once - that an actor is suddenly recognised as the star they are.

You know how many movies it took Tom Cruise before he was making 5, 6 million dollars? It probably took a billion dollars in box office.

A lot of movies are made, but because they come to film festivals and your movie doesn't get bought by a studio or a distributor, your movie doesn't get seen.

From the time you were signed at MGM you just felt you were in God's hands.

See, 'A Time to Kill' was the one I got famous off of. Big ka-boom, over one weekend. After that, I did films that I really wanted to do.

Wes Craven was the guy who gave me my start, from my perspective, for almost no reason in particular.

If you know the filmmaker is good and the leading actor is a movie star like Diane Lane, you know you're part of something great.

'Crush' was my first number one on the call sheet.

In 1994, nobody could have predicted 'Shawshank' would one day be an iconic movie - and believe me, that would never have happened if Danny Glover had been Red instead of Morgan Freeman.

Things have changed a great deal since the days of Mr. Mayer. The studios no longer control, as they did in those days, artists or directors or producers, as the case may be.

If 'American Beauty' came out today, it wouldn't make nearly as much money.

I always knew that all it would take was for the right director to put me in a movie.

I've made one action movie. But nobody saw it, so I guess that doesn't count for most people.

There's little that compares with the thrill of a hit major motion picture experience.

I remember watching 'Avengers 1' for the first time and thinking, 'God, one day I want to be in one of those movies.' I just want to be in the movie.

Major motion picture studios spend hundreds of millions of dollars trying to capture some of whatever it is that makes our little 'Sharknado' movie globally popular.

I can only hope that my future movies will do well.