I get asked, How can you have such failures in your films? Well, what else is life about? Theres some sense of constant failure in something. Humor gives you a distance from it. – Alexander Payne
I dont feel despair because I am able to make the films I want to make, and that gives me hope. – Alexander Payne
Anytime you cast a movie and you need someone famous in the lead part, youre a prisoner of whoever happens to be famous in the six-month window in which youre trying to get a film financed. – Alexander Payne
When youre a houseguest and you leave, its nice to straighten something up or send your hosts a useful gift. And when you leave the planet, its nice to have made a positive contribution. – Alexander Payne