Michael Mann Time Quotations

By the time I was 21, I knew what I wanted to do, and that was to direct films.

There's people who live life authentically and there's people who live a life of fabrication. And it begins with the question of how you're gonna do your time. And these are observations I made about Folsom when I was there with Dustin Hoffman when he was directing 'Straight Time.'

We've been negotiating this thing for 20 years so it was about time that we had an agreement. We're going to clink glasses on this.

Our farm subsidies are moving in the right direction and becoming much more trade friendly, while U.S. is moving in wrong direction, with more trade-distorting aid. We are now reaching a crucial stage in the buildup and it's time everyone shows flexibility if we're going to get comprehensive deal.

What I try to do - I mean 'try,' because you don't get there all the time - is to have impact with content. It's those moments in which you're trying to bring people beyond filmed theater. If I have an ambition, it's that.

Could I have worked under a system where there were Draconian controls on my creativity, meaning budget, time, script choices, etc.? Definitely not. I would have fared poorly under the old studio system that guys like Howard Hawks did so well in. I cannot.