The great thing with film is that it doesn't have an ego. It's just a film. Everybody that makes them has an ego, and the problem with awards and stuff like that is that it always affects the egos, and everyone gets stained by it in some way. And that can be fine and very innocent, but it can be horrible as well.
People are still asking me if I knew Star Wars was going to be that big of a hit. Yes, we all knew. The only one who didn't know was George.
When you're 19 and writing plays, you think every actor is full of it. They just can't handle your brilliant material.
Take my verses too serious ya hate me, cause I'm the one to paint a vivid picture, no HD.
In Don Mills in the Sixties, nothing comes close to the humiliation of losing an argument. In our weird little creative circle, no one cares who has faster fists, but to lose an argument suggests inferior intelligence.
It's really rare for film directors to be that interested in things other than themselves.
Sometimes when you're a songwriter, you kind of have this egotistic thing: you just want to write something that you love, and you don't care about if people like it or not, but personally, I want to write something that people can jive to.
I'm not an intellectual, I'm just a writer.
I did a lot of music criticism. I don't think much of it was any good. I think I wanted to show off a lot when I was younger. Now I just want people to enjoy the story. If it were possible to publish anonymously, that would be awesome.
The definition of an artist, for me, is someone who is quite selfish about their creativity.
Never underestimate the narcissism of a writer.
Those who call themselves art photographers are pompous, arrogant egoists.
Every actor is like, 'I could direct!'
The rules are: The only ego is the film, and you have to serve the film.
Critics? Don't talk to me of critics! You think some jackanapes journalist, his soul eaten away by the maggots of jealousy and failure, has anything worthwhile to say of art? I don't.
We often come across certain directors who mention some of their own flops as their favourites. They will blame the viewers for not realising its merits. I think that is plain hypocrisy.
On the other hand, I'm very tolerant as well. I expect that everybody can play what they want. I'm only not tolerant when it comes to myself and what is presented on my album that I have to listen to for the rest of my life.
Every morning when I awake, the greatest of joys is mine: that of being Salvador Dali.
The confident artist is a fool.
When people tell me I'm an artist, I say, 'What?' It's impossible for me to take the idea seriously.
I have friends in New York that won't leave New York, and they're really talented people, but they'd rather take an acting class in New York than do a play in Florida or Boston. That's just weird to me, but they get into that I've-got-to-be-in-the-center-of-the-universe mentality. I'm not that way.
Now keep in mind that I'm an artist and I'm sensitive about my sh*t
Mir Bahadur Ali is, as we have seen, incapable of evading the most vulgar of art's temptations: that of being a genius.
I'd be very suspicious of anybody that seems to have to move to the next level of expression. I distrust that: now I'm writing a book, now I'm being an actor. It should be a natural thing. I think it's a natural thing for you to act. But I think that people that feel that, because they've written one maybe quite beautiful love song that equips them to play Romeo, is probably misguided.
As a writer, you have a huge ego. You think that every line means something to everybody the same way it means to you. And that's not true.
