On Frida Kahlo's work and her own
Bill Moyers interview (2002)
Context: She painted what she painted because she had to, because she was passionate about it. She didn't care at all if people bought her paintings. As she said, she painted her reality.
I find that I make as an artist the kind of choices that I have to be impassioned about. I'm not going to spend two years on a film or four years on an opera if I don't feel like I can put my own self into it. That doesn't mean it has to be about myself. That's a difference.
Frida painted her own reality, her life. I'm a director and I paint many other people... Other people's realities. But I do have to invest in it.
“If I'm a cruel satirist at least I'm not a hyprocrite: I never judge what other people do.”
"Hypocrisy"
I'm a Born Liar (2003)
Context: If I'm a cruel satirist at least I'm not a hyprocrite: I never judge what other people do. Neither a politician nor a priest, I never censor what others do. Neither a philospher nor a psychiatrist, I never bother trying to analyze or resolve my fears and neuroses.
Said on the BBC's Political Thinking podcast. The Rishi Sunak One https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07qtbdx (11 October 2019). Quoted in the Guardian's Rishi Sunak: the bit-part hedge fund partner now managing the economy https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/mar/08/chancellor-rishi-sunak-the-bit-part-hedge-fund-partner-now-managing-the-whole-economy (8 March 2020)
2019
As quoted in a September 1970 Ray Connolly interview http://www.rayconnolly.co.uk/pages/journalism_01/journalism_01_item.asp?journalism_01ID=78 for the Evening Standard.
“I don’t love myself; I have other people do that for me.”
Ron English's Fauxlosophy (2016)
“I invest in people — be it politics or science. It's what I do.”
Quoted in Jeffrey Epstein: International Moneyman of Mystery By Landon Thomas Jr., New York Magazine http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/n_7912/ Oct. 28, 2002
Stephanie Bouchard (February 15, 2007) "Pasty-faced and proud of it - Comedian Jim Gaffigan brings his 'Beyond the Pale Tour' to Merrill Auditorium", Portland Press Herald, Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc., D10.
Context: I do kind of aspire to do comedy that appeals to a wide range of audiences and doesn't divide people. I never want to do material that makes people laugh at the expense of making other people feel bad - not to say I'm not guilty of that at times.... I try and make humor out of the really important issues of the day, like Hot Pockets and elevators and not wanting to get out of bed.
“I know what I'm capable of — it's other people who have a problem with my image, not me.”
News of the World (June 1986)
Context: Every time I do anything, I have to ask myself: Is it a good role, and is it right to do it? There may be sex or nudity or violence in the script, and then you have to say: Is it gratuitous just out to shock people? Or is it there because it has to be? If role demands it, and it isn't gratuitous, I'll do it. It's my job, after all. I'm an actress. I know what I'm capable of — it's other people who have a problem with my image, not me. I hope I can do all sorts of things, not just one type who's all sweetness and light. Unfortunately, people forget it's a role and confuse it with you.
Interview: Oded Fehr http://www.ign.com/articles/2007/08/15/interview-oded-fehr?page=2 (August 15, 2007)
