The Player Movie Quotes
Griffin Mill
It lacked certain elements that we need to market a film successfully.
June
What elements?
Griffin Mill
Suspense, laughter, violence. Hope, heart, nudity, sex. Happy endings. Mainly happy endings.
June
What about reality?
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Griffin Mill
I was just thinking what an interesting concept it is to eliminate the writer from the artistic process. If we could just get rid of these actors and directors, maybe we've got something here.
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Larry Levy
I'll be there right after my AA meeting.
Griffin Mill
Oh Larry, I didn't realise you had a drinking problem.
Larry Levy
Well I don't really, but that's where all the deals are being made these days.
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Detective Susan Avery
Mr. Mill, have you been going to detective school?
Griffin Mill
No, actually, we're doing a... a movie right now, called Lonely Room, and Scott Glenn plays a detective much like yourself.
Detective Susan Avery
Is he a black woman?
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June
I like words and letters, but I'm not crazy about complete sentences.
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Griffin Mill
So, what's the story?
Walter Stuckel
Twenty-five words or less? Okay. Movie exec calls writer. Writer's girlfriend says he's at the movies. Exec goes to the movies, meets writer, drinks with writer. Writer gets conked and dies in four inches of dirty water. Movie exec is in deep shit. What do you think?
Griffin Mill
That's more than 25 words and it's bullshit.
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Bonnie Sherow
How could you let him sell you out? What about truth? Reality?
Tom Oakley
What about the way the old ending tested in Canoga Park? Everybody hated it. We reshot it, now everybody loves it. - That's reality.
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Malcolm McDowell
Griffin? Griffin! Hi, how are you? Listen: the next time you want to badmouth me, have the courage to do it to my face. You guys are all the same.
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Jimmy Chase
Hey, you're Martin Scorsese!
Alan Rudolph
No, but I know Harvey Keitel.
Jimmy Chase
Of course you do! Hey, I loved Cape Fear!
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Griffin Mill
Can we talk about something other than Hollywood for a change? We're educated people.
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[Levy suggested that writers could be eliminated and any old news story could provide a movie story idea]
Bonnie Sherow
"Further Bond Losses Push Dow Down 7.15." I see Connery as Bond.
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[after watching The Bicycle Thief]
Griffin Mill
Great movie, huh? So refreshing to see something like this after all these... cop movies and, you know, things we do. Maybe we'll do a remake of this!
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Griffin Mill
Just... stop with the postcards...
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Griffin Mill
No stars, just talent.
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[Asked to look at police mug shots]
Griffin Mill
Um, no. I - I mean, I - You're putting me in a terrible position here. I would - I would hate to get the wrong person arrested.
Detective Susan Avery
Oh, please! This is Pasadena. We do not arrest the wrong person. That's L.A.!
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[first lines]
Man 1
[voiceover] Quiet on the set.
Woman
[voiceover] OK, everybody, quiet on the set.
Man 2
[voiceover] Scene 1, take 10. Marker.
Man 1
[voiceover] And - action!
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Griffin Mill
This is a red wine glass. Can I have my water in a water glass?
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Malcolm McDowell
If you've got something to say about me; say it to my face, not behind my back.
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June
We can't hurry things any more than we can stop them.
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June
Do places like this really exist?
Griffin Mill
Only in the movies.
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Andy Civelli
Griffin, you move in mysterious ways, but I like it! I like it!
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Detective Susan Avery
So you're saying if you drove a shitty car, you would park in the parking lot.
Griffin Mill
No, I'm saying if I were driving a shitty car, I would be a dead man.
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Walter Stuckel
It is my job to keep this very, very, very, very QUIET!
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June
Why don't you put me in the hot springs and see if I melt?
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Griffin Mill
[looking at June's paintings]
These are very interesting. I like them... Where do you show?
June
Hmm?
Griffin Mill
Gallery - - what gallery? Who's your dealer?
Griffin Mill
They're never finished?
June
No, they're just... what I do. For myself. What I feel.
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Detective Susan Avery
Paul went and saw a movie the other night and he keeps talking about it. What was that movie, Paul?
Detective DeLongpre
Freaks.
Griffin Mill
Oh yeah, Freaks, Tod Browning, It's a classic.
Detective DeLongpre
One of us. One of us. One of us.
Detective Susan Avery
He keeps saying that.
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Griffin Mill
Who's the D.A.?
Tom Oakley
Ah! No one.
Griffin Mill
No one?
Tom Oakley
No stars on this project. We're going out on a limb on one.
Andy Civelli
You know, uh, like unknown stage actors or maybe somebody English like what's-his-name.
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Tom Oakley
If I'm perfectly honest, if I think about this, this isn't even an American film.
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Walter Stuckel
How many meetings did you have with this guy?
Griffin Mill
One.
Walter Stuckel
Not counting last night.
Griffin Mill
Not counting last night.
Walter Stuckel
Why'd you go all the way to Pasadena to meet him?
Griffin Mill
He had an idea I was interested in, I wanted to talk to him right away.
Walter Stuckel
His girlfriend, I guess she was a friend of yours, too? Think fast!
[He throws a ball at Griffin who barely catches it]
Griffin Mill
Jesus Christ, Walter! What is this?
Walter Stuckel
It's called the third degree. Don't like it? Wait till the police are asking questions.
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Detective DeLongpre
[stopping Mill just as he's exiting his gated driveway]
Mr. Mill, I'm Detective DeLongpre, Pasadena police.
Griffin Mill
Yes, I recognize you. Did you have a good time at the party last night?
Detective DeLongpre
No, I didn't. I'm not supposed to have a good time when I'm on duty.
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Gar Girard
[in the Pasadena police station hallway, on the way to the lineup]
Mr. Mill, Gar Girard. I'm here to represent you. Dick Mellen called me in on this. Here's the situation. They've got a witness and they want you to do a lineup. Now, if you say no, they'll arrest you. I'm certain of that. And even if you get identified, I'll get you off on bail. Now, this witness lives across the street from the parking lot. Even if she makes an identification - a positive ID, right now - even if that happens, it was very late at night. By the time I'm finished with her, the world will have a whole new legal standard for blindness.
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Jan
A guy named Joe Gillis called. He wants you to meet him at the St. James Club at 10:00 on the patio. Know who this is?
Griffin Mill
Never heard of him.
Jan
He said you'd know him.
Griffin Mill
Anybody know who Joe Gillis is?
Joel Levison
He's a character William Holden played in "Sunset Boulevard." The writer killed by a movie star.
Bonnie Sherow
Gloria Swanson.
Griffin Mill
[starts to laugh]
Oh, that guy. Last week he said he was Charles Foster Kane. A week before that it was Rhett Butler.
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Griffin Mill
Movies are art, now more than ever.
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Griffin Mill
Oh. When will he be back?
June
When the film's over, I presume.
Griffin Mill
And you are?
June
June.
Griffin Mill
June...?
June
Here we go. You want to know my last name. Well, you're not going to pronounce it - no one can.
Griffin Mill
Try me.
June
Gudmundsdottir.
Griffin Mill
[saying it a few times, pronouncing it fairly accurately]
Gudmundsdottir... Gudmundsdottir - - How's that?
June
Eh, very good!
Griffin Mill
Thanks. What do people usually say?
June
Oh, don't ask. Like, anything from Good Dog's Water to Goulash Wallop.
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Larry Levy
Bonnie, you're fired.
Bonnie Sherow
Fuck you.
Larry Levy
Oh, it takes more to make it in this business than a dirty mouth.
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Walter Stuckel
Pictures they make these days are all MTV: cut, cut, cut. The opening shot of Welles' Touch of Evil was 6 and a half minutes long.
Jimmy Chase
[amazed]
6 and a half minutes long?
Walter Stuckel
3 or 4 anyway. He set up the whole picture with that one tracking shot. My father was the key grip on that shoot.
Jimmy Chase
Hey, what about Absolute Beginners? That was an extraordinary shot!
Walter Stuckel
What the hell was that? Never heard of it.
Jimmy Chase
It's Julien Temple. It's an English movie.
Walter Stuckel
We're talking about American movies. Orson Welles was a master!
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Walter Stuckel
My old man worked for Hitchcock on Rope. It was a masterpiece. Story wasn't any good. Shot the whole thing without cuts. I hate all this cut-cut-cut.
Jimmy Chase
Oh yeah? Well, what about Bertolucci and that great tracking shot with Winger in Sheltering Sky.
Walter Stuckel
I didn't see it.
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Griffin Mill
Hiya, Burt. Griffin Mill. Good to see you.
Burt Reynolds
Oh, hi, good to see you.
Griffin Mill
Hi, Charles. How are you?
Charles Champlin
Griffin, nice to see you this morning.
Charles Champlin
One of a breed.
Burt Reynolds
No, actually not one of a breed, there's a whole breed of them. They're breeding them actually.
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Larry Levy
Burt? Larry Levy. I hope you don't remember me, and if you do, I hope there are no hard feelings. I was only working for Kaster at the time.
Burt Reynolds
Yeah, right.
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Bonnie Sherow
What is going on?
Griffin Mill
What do you mean?
Bonnie Sherow
I mean handing Larry Levy your project like that.
Griffin Mill
Well, I just thought Larry had a firm grip on the style of the piece. That's all.
Bonnie Sherow
The only thing Larry Levy has a firm grip on is his dick, and you know it.
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Griffin Mill
I will not work for Larry Levy.
Joel Levison
I'm not asking you to.
Griffin Mill
I report to you. If I have to report to Larry Levy, I quit.
Joel Levison
Can't quit. I wont let you quit. You have a year and a half left on your contract and I will sue you for breach if you don't show up in the office every day. With a smile.
Griffin Mill
Why Levy?
Joel Levison
Levy was available. He's good on material, you're good with writers. We're a team. He's a new member of the team, that's all. He can make us all look good.
Griffin Mill
[to the waitress, annoyed]
This is a red wine glass. Can I have my water in water glass, please?
Joel Levison
Well?
Griffin Mill
I'll have to think about it, Joel.
Joel Levison
I want an answer this afternoon.
Griffin Mill
Well, I have to go out to Palmdale. The director of Lonely Room is giving Lily a hard time. I'll be back around 5.
Joel Levison
Well, call after 5.
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Griffin Mill
Oh? Where's are you kind-of, sort-of not from?
June
Well... do you want the long story or the short one?
Griffin Mill
The long.
June
No, you'd never believe it. The short one... Iceland.
Griffin Mill
Iceland? No one comes from Iceland. I thought it was just a block of ice.
June
It's green, really.
Griffin Mill
Really? I thought that was Greenland.
June
Greenland's very icy. Iceland's very green. They switched names to fool the Vikings who tried to steal their women.
Griffin Mill
Oh, I see.
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Phil
[eulogizing at the funeral]
The Hollywood system did not murder David Kahane. Not the $98 million movie, not the $12 million actor, nor the million-dollar deal that David Kahane never landed. No, the most that we can pin on Hollywood is assault with intent to kill, because society is responsible for this particular murder, and it is to society that we must look if we are to have any justice for that crime. Because someone in the night killed David Kahane, and that person will have to bear the guilt. And if David were here right now, I know in my heart that he, he would say, "Cut the shit, Phil. What did you learn from this? Did you learn anything from all of this?" And I'd say, uh, "Yeah, David, I've learned a lot. We here will take it from here." And the next time we sell a script for a million dollars, the next time we nail some shit bag producer to the wall, we'll say that's another one for David Kahane! David was working on something the day he died, I'd like to share it with you.
[starts reading from a script]
Phil
Blackness. A mangy dog barks. Garbage cans are lifted as derelicts on the street hunt for food. Buzzing, a cheap alarm clock goes off. Interior: flophouse room, early morning. A tracking shot moves through the grimy room. Light streams in through holes in the yellowing window shade. Moths dance in the beams of light. Track down along the floor, the frayed rug, stop on an old shoe. It's empty.
Phil
That's as far as he got. That's the last thing he wrote. So long, Dave. Fade out. Thank you.
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