21+ Robert Towne Quotes On Education, Freedom And Writing

Robert Towne is an American screenwriter and director, best known for his Academy Award-winning original screenplay for the 1974 film Chinatown. He also wrote the screenplay for the first two Mission: Impossible films. Towne is also known for his work on films such as Shampoo, The Last Detail, and Tequila Sunrise. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Robert Towne on leadership, education, life.

Top 10 Robert Towne Quotes

1. In dramatic writing, the very essence is character change. The character at the end is not the same as he was at the beginning. He's changed-psychologically, maybe even physically.
2. Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.
3. Either you bring the water to L.A. or you bring L.A. to the water.
4. And I think one way or another it's evident to those who work with me that as a writer, a director, a friend, as somebody's there that's very anxious to get the movie made.
5. Finally, Colin Farrell showed up on my doorstep, only he wasn't Colin Farrell - he was just this Irish kid who had read the script and wanted to do it.
6. You're dumber than you think I think you are.
7. But time has caught up with it and I think vindicated it. Shampoo, too: very dark, very ambitious movie.
8. If you can find meaning in the type of running you need todo to stay on this team, chances are you can find meaning in another absurd pastime: Life.
9. Larry Grobel senses there are no answers in life, only questions. Good ones.
10. The straight roads are the roads of progress, the crooked roads are thee roads of genius.

Robert Towne Short Quotes

• Good dialogue illuminates what people are not saying
• She's my daughter. She's my sister.
• I'm not supposed to be the one that's caught with his pants down.
• I'm not in business to be loved, but I am in business.

Robert Towne Famous Quotes And Sayings

If you have a good ear for dialogue, you just can't help thinking about the way people talk. You're drawn to it. And the obsessive interest in it forces you to develop it. You almost can't help yourself. — Robert Towne

But, uh, censorship at that time said that you just absolutely couldn't do anything involving children and so we had to go from there. I don't remember what I changed it to. Duvall is just excellent in it. — Robert Towne

People who can't think of anything else but whether the person you love is indented or convex should be doomed not to think of anything else but that, and so miss the other ninety-five percent of life. — Robert Towne

How much are you worth? I have no idea. How much do you want? Naw.I just want to know what you're worth. Over ten million? Oh, my, yes. Why are you doing it? How much better can you eat? What can you buy that you can't already afford? The future, Mr. Gittes! The future! — Robert Towne

I think Los Angeles certainly grew out and grew up, but I don't think it matured. It lost the appeal and the hunger and the beauty of its adolescence and went straight to a middle-aged ugly, overfed monster seeking mindless pleasure and being obsessively acquisitive. It's so materialistic. It grew up, but it didn't mature. — Robert Towne

What makes screenplays difficult are the things that require the most discipline and care and are just not seen by most people. I'm talking about movement - screenwriting is related to math and music, and if you zig here, you know you have to zag there. It's like the descriptions for a piece of music - you go fast or slow or with feeling. It's the same. — Robert Towne

It was not possible to film in California, because all the areas are heavily built up now. Coming to Cape Town is an invitation to step into the past and recreate Los Angeles of the 1930s. — Robert Towne

Life Lessons by Robert Towne

1. Robert Towne's work emphasizes the importance of character development and the use of dialogue to tell a story.
2. His films often explore themes of loyalty and friendship, as well as the consequences of making difficult choices.
3. His writing style is often considered to be classic and timeless, emphasizing the power of storytelling to create powerful and lasting memories.