Dan Futterman Quotations

Capote had these dueling motivations for being involved with this guy. He genuinely was fascinated with (Perry Smith), but he also saw him as a ticket to writing this great book.

But at the end of the day, it was his call. So I would go off and do rewrites while they shot.

He went to every fund-raising meeting vouching for a first-time feature director and first-time screenwriter. It was Phil who said, 'I believe in them; you need to trust me.

He's also one of those friends who doesn't impress easily. And so if you get a good reaction from him, it actually means something. So it was important for me to hear from him something about the script, whether it was good or bad.

His persona was what people responded to with shock,

He was enormously manipulative, very ambitious and not always truthful. I didn't want a biography that worships the title character. I wanted a movie that portrays the truth.

He was enormously manipulative, very ambitious and not always truthful,

I think I'm kind of attracted to the material more than the medium. I'm not opposed to doing a television show, though. I actually think there are a couple of good ones. And there is some terrible theater. Film is a very different kind of acting.

Yeah, look, he's known me since I was getting into car accidents ... Then I was an actor for years. And I wrote an outline, a pretty detailed outline, and gave it to him, and I'm pretty certain he has yet to read that outline.

Once you start working with a particular actor, that actor becomes very present in your mind as your mind as you're writing subsequent episodes.

I loved being in Bombay. It was a pretty thrilling place to walk around and explore.

I was raised Jewish and bar mitzvahed.

We are breaking new ground in the territory of dumb with Shooting Fish. Dumb, but in good taste. Silly, but not ridiculous.

With a play, there's more of a definable arc because of the nature of theater: You know, there's no editing, so there's something more natural about the arc a character follows in a play. I think theater is more an actor's medium, whereas film is more a director's medium, because that's who controls the final feel of the film.

We are breaking new ground in the territory of dumb with 'Shooting Fish.' Dumb, but in good taste. Silly, but not ridiculous.

And then Phil walked into the room. I'm not certain exactly what he'd prepared -- I think it was a scenario involving a death in the family -- but he was a mess, bright red, sobbing, you couldn't even understand what he was saying half the time. But it was powerful. He was this 16-year-old ex-jock, and I remember very distinctly feeling that if I was going to act, I'd have to get serious about it. Because this guy completely gets it.

It's an incredible honor, and it's so unlikely. I took a stab at doing this, and it's been extremely well received. ... Phil has gotten an enormous amount of attention, all of it well deserved. I think we've gotten our fair share, and whatever shakes out in terms of Oscar stuff is fine.

Does 'Shooting Fish' have less artistic merit than a play like 'Angels In America,' which I did? Well, probably. But it's good for something.

I don't pretend to be anything but an actor and a writer.

He achieved everything he ever wanted, and the cost of that ruined him. It was something he never came to terms with. He never did finish another book. The drinking and drug abuse increased, and it was the beginning of his long demise.

The first moment I saw Phil act is a really vivid memory for me,