John Milius Speaks

A lot of directors don't know what they want to do. Every director I've seen that was a good director that I've admired knew exactly what he wanted to do. They didn't sit there and think about it.
John Milius

A lot of people thought of me as a threat to Western civilization.
John Milius

Also, they don't understand - writing is language. The use of language. The language to create image, the language to create drama. It requires a skill of learning how to use language.
John Milius

Anybody can direct a movie, and sit there. The mechanics of directing a movie are very, very simple. You can figure that out in about three hours.
John Milius

But, I mean, egotism is not a good quality. It's not something to be admired or even tolerated. It wouldn't be tolerated in a field commander and it shouldn't be tolerated in a movie director.
John Milius

Everybody's a filmmaker today.
John Milius

Films are always pretentious. There's nothing more pretentious than a filmmaker.
John Milius

I also thought of myself as the Sonny Barger of the film industry.
John Milius

I became a loner. I became a mountain man. A lot of those things are very good qualities and they help you do your work, help you be singular and keep the artistic integrity of your work intact, but they don't make it very easy to live your life.
John Milius

I felt that the Star Wars series became very pretentious as time went on. Just heavy and leaden.
John Milius

I find that screenwriting is at best kind of a hackwork in some ways.
John Milius

I hardly said a word to my wife until I said 'yes' to divorce.
John Milius

I mean, the old film critics just excoriated me.
John Milius

I suppose when I started out I would have liked to have been the darling of critics or something, but everybody wants to be loved and admired.
John Milius

I think Francis at half form is better than anybody else by 50%, you know? I think it's just that he has never... he has a late pick of the things that are ambitious enough for him.
John Milius

I think when I started in the business, when I had my first aspirations of being in the business, I sort of pictured an idyllic life.
John Milius

I've always been able to survive by writing, though.
John Milius

I've always had trouble with authority.
John Milius

'm a general, I do something. I go out and fight wars and win them.
John Milius

Matter of fact, the style that people use today, I invented in a way.
John Milius

Most artists think they're frauds anyway.
John Milius

Most of the good executives do pretty well. Because to be a good executive you have to be strong, and you have to have a simple attribute that people have forgotten about - courage.
John Milius

No, you're either born a writer, a storyteller, or you're not.
John Milius

The filmmakers always have a great level of control.
John Milius

There is a certain kind of respect for authenticity today that there wasn't back in the days when they did 'Cleopatra,' where everything looked like a giant motel. People want to have it be authentic in the look, and authentic in the way people behave.
John Milius

Writing requires a great deal of skill, just like painting does. People don't want to learn those skills.
John Milius

Yeah, I think that's it... It's like Jesse James. He became really popular because he lasted so long. You know, there is some degree of truth to the fact that time will dignify anything, too.
John Milius

Yeah, there's absolutely. I mean, remember when The Searchers came out, it was a relatively big hit for a Western, and I think it made 5 million bucks - I don't even think it made that.
John Milius

You know, I find it very strange when movies that I made that were just excoriated - I mean that I was just vilified for - are now looked at as classics.
John Milius

You never know when you're going to be considered un-hip... The people that really pass judgment on you really have nothing to do with what you do, usually.
John Milius