Quotes from Dito Montiel

Movies are weird; it's like trying to make a painting with one hundred people. It's a weird world, but every job is weird; it's always a little bit hard, crazy and fun, a nice combination.

I was born in Queens, New York. I've done every job you could think of in New York. Selling peanuts to Larry Fresh Fruit ices to dog walker to unloading trucks at the Jacob Javits Center.

You don't get many chances in life to make a movie, and if someone says they don't like it, I say, 'I do'. I've made records before, and if someone said it sucked, it bummed me out.

'Midnight Cowboy' is an exquisite piece of filmmaking. It's insane.

If you're going to come wanting to work really hard, you're never going to bum me out.

I know that some great actors can transform, and that's fine. But I come from the school of thought that people put a version of themselves in their films.

You want to be entertaining to some degree. But honesty is always entertaining to me.

It's weird: making a movie is like life compacted into three months. You have these very intense relationships with people, and you talk to them every day - your editor, the casting people, music people, your actors - then it ends. It's like a circus life.

Some people have this crazy talent that makes you tap into a human side as well, even with all their fame.

And I understand now, maybe not completely, but more, that in times of overwhelming joy, immobile sadness, hysterical laughter, absolute fear, and sometimes just perfect quiet there is Life. Real Life. And it really is that simple. I take my gift now. I go live.

At the end of the night they all seemed so happy. Maybe it was just because they hadn't seen each other in a while, but as they all gathered around hugging, kissing, and well-wishing each other, I found myself feeling for the first time in my life like maybe I'd missed out on something.

We were all the same. Kids from nowhere going nowhere. He always saw a light through the darkness. Knew the cracks let that light in, and that those cracks could suck you up.

I know how easy it is to sound like a corny version of Noam Chomsky when talking about something like this, but in a country where millions of dollars are spent on nuclear weapons, corporate welfare, and many ridiculous things, doesn't it just make sense to take care of people first? As soon as we can make the South Bronx, Compton, Taos, and Astoria look like Beverly Hills I'll have no problem watching a guy orbit Mars.

He said he was always looking for a new color. He used to call me the new color. He said he wouldn't wanna see a spaceship without me. He always talked in riddles, but I think I know what he meant, and I don't think anyone can ever say anything that will mean as much to me.

take free food or tea from anyone talking about God and find Heaven its gotta be out there for there must be God and how could any talk of good or God be wrong

I realize now that the reason we often feel so bad about change is because of all those beautiful things that happen in our lives. I mean, I can't remember ever feeling sad about many things other than a great memory. I believe in contentment and love and laughter. I believe when we fear for our content it is then, most of all, we feel sadness.

I've done every job in the world, and movies, the only thing close to a movie that I've ever done is it's kind of like being in a band.

I try not to read Google.

I'm such a fan of actors and also enjoy watching them work so that I can help their acting in any way I can. Sometimes it walks a tricky line because you want to be entertaining to some degree. But honesty is always entertaining to me. I'm a big Woody Allen and Spike Lee fan, and I find their films to be very honest.

I wrote music. I was in a hardcore band when I was 14, and I wasn't good enough to play anyone else's songs, so I had to write my own.

When I was a kid, I was into hardcore music. The scene in New York was tiny. Every person hanging out was in a band and played at the A7 Club. There was not much rehearsing or anything. Just doing.

Whether I'm writing the script, or someone else writes the initial draft, I'm always an actor's director first. I always try to listen to them a lot and try to put their voices into their character.

You make a movie, and if there's a red light flashing in the distance, everyone thinks that the director had a whole lot of money and a great idea that the red light means something. Then you say, 'Yeah, we couldn't afford to shut the red light off that was broken two blocks away.'

To me, the screenplay only becomes the Bible of the film after the actors have been cast. You go over the initial script with them and listen to the way they talk. Then you try to do a rewrite to accommodate them.