Chazz Palminteri Quotes

“I get the beginning. I get the end. Then I write the middle. That's how I do it.”

“I love people who just started making movies – first-timers, second-timers. They take chances.”

“I thought that if no one was going to give me a great part – and it was very difficult to break into film, obviously – then I'd write one myself.”

“I'm very proud of being Italian-American, but people don't realize that the mafia is just this aberration. The real community is built on the working man, the guy who's the cop, the fireman, the truck driver, the bus driver.”

“I've always been successful. Now I'm famous and successful.”

“Italian-Americans are not the Mafia.”

“Mental violence is as bad as physical violence. You don't see that very often in movies, so it was a good subject to tackle.”

“Oh, great reviews are the worst. They mislead you more than the bad ones, because they only fuel your ego. Then you only want another one, like potato chips or something, and the best thing you get is fat and bloated. I'd rather just refuse, thanks.”

“Please, if you're making a movie, start out with a good script, at least!”

“The key is you have to keep doing the right thing. Do the right thing and stay around long enough, and you'll keep getting parts. And if you don't, you write your own parts, which I'm lucky to do. It's like anything else: you get hot, you get cold, then you get hot again. You just keep working.”

“The saddest thing in life is wasted talent, and the choices you make will shape your life forever.”

“The way I pick movies is, first, if the script is any good. Then, if the script is good, who else is in it, the director, the producer, all that. If you have all that, there's a chance the movie will be great. If the script isn't right, or the director or cast isn't right, you've got no shot in hell.”

“When you feel good about the work you're doing, that's what's important, not the budget or anything like that. If you're happy about the actors you're working with, that's what's important.”

“Yeah, I like to gamble. I like playing roulette, I like dice. I grew up with gamblers.”