Quotes from Christopher McQuarrie

Scripts don't get movies made.

Action to me is something very fun to shoot.

I'm a big fan of the movies of the '60s, more than a fan of the movies of the '70s.

Oh my God, you look at all the uniforms in Star Wars, and it's all Nazi iconography.

If you're surrounded by good people and you're really honest with yourself, you'll be delivered.

I've rewritten other films and watched my writing be mutilated, but luckily, it's been mutilated anonymously.

You've gotta understand: in July of '44, the Allies were still contained on the peninsula in western France and the destruction of Europe had not really begun. War had not really touched the European continent at that point.

The way I like to describe Hollywood today is this: everyone wants to make 'Deliverance,' but no one wants to be Ned Beatty.

Directing has completely changed the way I write and watch films.

A lot of books, if you take them at face value, they're just not gonna work as films.

History tends to take the simplest possible view. As soon as you start to scratch the surface of any historical event, it starts to become more and more complicated, which is not the stuff of Hollywood films. Complications tend to break down the budget.

I'm saying, let's learn to reacquire a respect for the power of guns. This culture is so indifferent and disrespectful of guns that we should be terrified.

With 'Rubicon,' Mark Long and Dan Capel have created the perfect environment for an intense action franchise.

Success is never bad in Hollywood. It is what you do with success that will dog you.

'The Way of the Gun' I wrote in five days.

There is no 'Top Gun 2' in which Maverick is not the starring role.

I was writing from the time I was 12 years old, but I originally wanted to be a novelist.

The challenge in most car chases is you're trying to hide the fact that it's not the actor driving.

The truth of the matter is movies are a reflection of life and violence is a real part of life. I don't think you could make movies exclusively where there was no violence.

The one thing that frustrates me more than anything else is that no studio has ever told me to tone down violence. They only ask you to make it more presentable.

Directing my own writing, I see that I talk way too much, and everything can happen much sooner, with much less said about it.

When you're making a film, you don't really have time to consider what the whole of your film is. And then, when you're releasing your film and promoting your film, you're looking at it in a different way. Then, as you move away from it, you start to look at it objectively and think, 'What could I have done better?'

What makes a movie now is a package, a brand, a remake or some preexisting material.

Ideally, I'd like to have a movie that people like and makes money.