James Toback
James Toback
James Lee Tobackis an American screenwriter and film director, as well as non-fiction writer, and essayist...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScreenwriter
Date of Birth23 November 1944
CountryUnited States of America
believe director excited ideal people saying share whom
Use people whom you're excited by and who share your excitement... The ideal collaboration is one in which the actor and director are saying to each other, 'I can't believe how lucky we are to be making a movie together.'
I write fast, I write beautifully, I write convincingly.
I know a star when I see one.
nice america awards
Much as I like getting awards in Oldenburg, Germany and Torino, it's nice to get one in America.
fun stills hanging-around
What am I hanging around for? But I'm hanging around because it's still fun.
parts-of-life
Death is a part of life, and eventually I assimilated that completely.
past mystery future-and-present
The past is history, the future's a mystery.
roles want stuff
The collaborator has to be someone who understands that his role is to help you articulate what you want, but at the same time is not just going to be mechanically obeying, but adding to, supplementing, and coming up with stuff.
sweet real being-single
[Robert Downey was being singled out for] selective prosecution. He's a sweet guy who never did harm to anyone except himself. He's been doing drugs for 20 years and functioning for 20 years, and in those 20 years there've been hundreds of people who've been getting high constantly and behaved very destructively and have not been arrested. Robert's real problem is he gets caught.
rave vicious thirds
Most of my movies get about a third raves, a third vicious attacks, and a third in-between.
believe done should
You will never convince anyone to do anything unless you believe it should be done.
views two people
To have six billion people on Earth, two billion of whom are carrying around a warped view of you? That has to register.
mistake ideas needs
The idea that there aren't mistakes made constantly in the judicial system is too obvious even to need to mention.
feelings lucky wanted
I alternate between feeling incredibly lucky that I've gotten away with almost everything I wanted to do, and feeling like I've been shafted.