William Goldman
William Goldman
William Goldmanis an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist, before turning to writing for film. He has won two Academy Awards for his screenplays, first for the western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kidand again for All the President's Men, about journalists who broke the Watergate scandal of President Richard Nixon. Both films starred Robert Redford...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScreenwriter
Date of Birth12 August 1931
CityHighland Park, IL
CountryUnited States of America
But this is life on earth, you can't have everything.
Life is difficult. Anyone who says different is trying to sell you something.
Being a screenwriter is not enough for a full creative life.
Life is pain, highness. Anyone who tells you differently is selling something.
And that's when she put her book down. And looked at me. And said it: "Life isn't fair, Bill. we tell our children that it is, but it's a terrible thing to do. It's not only a lie, it's a cruel lie. Life is not fair, and it never has been, and it's never going to be.
Life isn't fair. It's just fairer than death, that's all.
Who says life is fair, where is that written?
Sonny, true love is the greatest thing, in the world -- except for a nice MLT -- mutton, lettuce and tomato sandwich, where the mutton is lean and the tomato is ripe.
I have always liked it, it is still my favorite book. I do not like my writing, but I like this book. . . . I wish I liked my own writing more, but like all of us, I am trapped inside my own skin.
What are we going to do about Billy? That was the phrase that haunted me those first ten years. I pretended not to care, but secretly I was petrified. Everyone and everything was passing me by. I had no real friends, no single person who shared an equal interest in all games. I seemed busy, busy, busy, but I suppose, if pressed, I might have admitted that, for all my frenzy, I was very much alone.
Fact: "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" is, no question, the most popular thing I've ever been connected with. When I die, if the Times gives me an obit, it's going to be because of Butch.
Studio executives are intelligent, brutally overworked men and women who share one thing in common with baseball managers: they wake up every morning of the world with the knowledge that sooner or later they're going to get fired.
The easiest thing to do on earth is not write.
As far as the filmmaking process is concerned, stars are essentially worthless - and absolutely essential.