Penelope Spheeris Quotes

I like to think about society as being a flock of birds: There seems to be a common consciousness in different time periods, and the new common consciousness reacts to the old standards.

When men have money and power they get turned on, sexually. They get horny as hell. Can't imagine why, though.

My mother was a barmaid and I was raised in a trailer park. I'm used to that language. I put it on the screen so that people could interpret it as they wish.

I feel that a documentarian has an obligation to tell the truth as he or she interprets it. And what I mean by that is that documentarians don't necessarily have the same sort of obligations that a journalist might have. A journalist might be called upon to be objective, whereas a documentarian is sort of forced to take sides.

I was always into music. I think everyone is when they're a teenager, as a way to drown out the world.

This generation has given up on growth. They're just hoping for survival.

I love punk rock, but I also love metal.

If I could make a decent living doing documentaries, I would. I don't really care about [the other] stuff so much. But you can't make a living doing documentaries. Although it has affected my work, at least in that I think I make fairly realistic-looking pictures.

I really feel kind of guilty spending 80 million dollars. People are starving in the world.

Those movies, Decline I and II and Suburbia, are dearly loved, but they never made any money. I didn't even have the rights for some of them.

I got IRS records to finance what I wanted to do.

I live on this nice three acres in Hollywood.

Different parents have different standards for their children.

For the most part, studio movies have huge budgets. They don't do anything under 30 to 40 million. When you have that much money at stake, you have so many people breathing down your neck.

I can't believe I actually was in my own movie.

Arnold and Jamie Lee must have worked over the years with directors that did 50 takes, because I'd get like three takes or so and say, Ok, that's it, we're done.

It is fun to try figure out the things that really are real and the things tha