Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazanwas a Greek-American director, producer, writer and actor, described by The New York Times as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth7 September 1909
CityIstanbul, Turkey
CountryUnited States of America
party police taste
To be a member of the Communist Party is to have a taste of the police state. It is a diluted taste but is bitter and unforgettable.
believe winning usa
The belief that the good in American society will finally win out... I don't believe any more.
bohemian-rhapsody elitist collectives
I was not a collective person or a bohemian; I was an elitist.
successful gossip columns
I was both very successful and very left; the living demonstration of how you could be on the left and still be in the gossip columns and be envied for the money you made.
self self-conscious conscious
I was always a self-conscious person.
stars thinking too-much
I question the value of stars. I think they're overrated. They get too much money, too much praise.
giving-up hate believe
I hate the Communists and have for many years and don't feel right about giving up my career to defend them. I will give up my film career if it is in the interests of defending something I believe in, but not this.
acting realistic poetry-is
Stylized acting and direction is to realistic acting and direction as poetry is to prose.
my-best-friend lost critics
I've lost many of my best friends... I'm going to satisfy myself now, not the critics, not even my friends.
essence movement action
The essence of the stage is concentration and penetration. Of the screen action, movement, sweep.
circles degrees full-circle
Some directors, like Stevens [George Stevens], shoot full circle, 360 degrees, and that's what's right for them. I generally shoot at about a seven to one ratio. But part of that is because I've worked on every screenplay, so I'm further along in the visual concept.
new-life theater left
I left the theater; I literally left to begin a new life.
america europe perspective
I'm very pro-America, but I feel it necessary to keep in touch with Europe to maintain a perspective.
writing people buried
Truth gets buried, that's why people write autobiographies.