Categories
Archives
-
-
-
-
Recent Posts
- “I prefer a national film to an international film.” — Jean-Paul Belmondo
- “Sometimes I can sing it when I can’t say it.” — Carl Perkins
- “I never wanted to be this famous. I never imagined this life for myself.” — Kristen Stewart
- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Henry IV, Part 2
- “I never was good at sightseeing yet it must be done.” — William Wordsworth
- “It sounds like something from a Woody Guthrie song, but it’s true; I was raised in a freight car.” — Merle Haggard
- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Henry IV, Part 1
- “There won’t be another Bette Davis. There can’t be.” Mitchell and I discuss Bette Davis
- “I’d marry again if I found a man who had fifteen million dollars, would sign over half to me and guarantee that he’d be dead within a year.” — Bette Davis
- In the Criterion Closet
Recent Comments
- Bryce on The Books: “Nine Stories”- ‘The Laughing Man’ (J.D. Salinger)
- sheila on March 2026 Snapshots
- Troy on March 2026 Snapshots
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Henry IV, Part 1
- Ian on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Henry IV, Part 1
- sheila on Happy Birthday, Dean Stockwell
- jeanie laub on Happy Birthday, Dean Stockwell
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Henry IV, Part 1
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Henry IV, Part 1
- Bryan Summers on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Henry IV, Part 1
- sheila on In the Criterion Closet
- DBW on In the Criterion Closet
- sheila on Coming soon …
- sheila on March 2026 Snapshots
- Maddy on Coming soon …
- Maddy on March 2026 Snapshots
- sheila on March 2026 Snapshots
- Dan on March 2026 Snapshots
- Sheila on “Life was bitter and I was not. All around me was poverty and sordidness but I refused to see it that way. By turning it into jokes, I made it bearable.” — Max Shulman
- Robert McCarville on “Life was bitter and I was not. All around me was poverty and sordidness but I refused to see it that way. By turning it into jokes, I made it bearable.” — Max Shulman
-
Tag Archives: Conversations with Wilder
Billy Wilder: On Arriving In America
Excerpt from Conversations with Wilder: I first saw America from the Aquitania. We were delayed half a day, we were up in the harbor. It was a snowing winter night. I stayed with my brother in his little house on … Continue reading
Billy Wilder: Ace in the Hole
Excerpt from Conversations with Wilder: I was hoping that it would find an audience…. An they didn’t get it at all, lots of them. Some discerning critics lauded it up and it was their favorite picture of mine. But many … Continue reading
Posted in Directors
Tagged Billy Wilder, Conversations with Wilder
Comments Off on Billy Wilder: Ace in the Hole
Billy Wilder: On William Holden
Excerpt from Conversations with Wilder: I always tell myself that I will do a picture that is interesting character-wise, not just something atmospheric. The atmosphere, that I photograph. But I am careful to find an original set if I can, … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Directors
Tagged Billy Wilder, Conversations with Wilder, William Holden
Leave a comment
Billy Wilder On Movie-Length
Excerpt from Conversations with Wilder: I don’t like pictures where you can take half an hour out and it’s only better.
Billy Wilder: On Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe
On Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe, 2 of his most famous leading ladies: I had a special little niche for Givenchy. He did the clothes for Audrey Hepburn. There was always that style, you know. Of course she did not … Continue reading
Posted in Directors
Tagged Billy Wilder, Conversations with Wilder, Marilyn Monroe
Comments Off on Billy Wilder: On Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe
Billy Wilder On Audiences
Excerpt from Conversations with Wilder: I kind of think that overall, audiences are pretty smart. Sometimes they are a little cruel; sometimes they are too nice to you. But as soon as you say, “I don’t give a damn whether … Continue reading
Billy Wilder on Marilyn Monroe: “A remarkable person, and in spades when she was on the screen.”
Excerpt from Conversations with Wilder: I never knew what Marilyn was going to do, how she was going to play a scene. I had to talk her out of it, or I had to underline it and say, “That’s very … Continue reading
Billy Wilder: “Make It True”
The following anecdote reminds me of one of Hamlet’s pieces of advice to the players: “whose end, both at the fist and now, was and is to hold as ’twere the mirror up to nature”. Hold the mirror up to … Continue reading
Billy Wilder on Humorists
Excerpt from Conversations with Wilder: The real humorist is always sad. You’ll find that people who are trully funny never laugh about their own jokes. They just let it go, they let it pass.
Posted in Directors
Tagged Billy Wilder, Conversations with Wilder
Comments Off on Billy Wilder on Humorists
Billy Wilder: On Jack Lemmon
Here’s a long quote from Billy Wilder on the genius of Jack Lemmon. Genius indeed. Jack Lemmon was my Everyman. And he could do everything, except carry a love interest to the extreme, to kissing and the precoitus thing. That … Continue reading