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Detective Susan Avery: Mr. Mill, have you been going to detective school?
Griffin Mill: No, actually, we're doing a... a movie right now, called Lonely Room, and Scott Glenn plays a detective much like yourself.
Detective Susan Avery: Is he a black woman?
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[Levy suggested that writers could be eliminated and any old news story could provide a movie story idea]
Bonnie Sherow: "Further Bond Losses Push Dow Down 7.15." I see Connery as Bond.
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Griffin Mill: I was just thinking what an interesting concept it is to eliminate the writer from the artistic process. If we could just get rid of these actors and directors, maybe we've got something here.
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[Asked to look at police mug shots]
Griffin Mill: Um, no. I - I mean, I - You're putting me in a terrible position here. I would - I would hate to get the wrong person arrested.
Detective Susan Avery: Oh, please! This is Pasadena. We do not arrest the wrong person. That's L.A.!
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Delivery Boy: Hey, you're Martin Scorsese!
Alan Rudolph: No, but I know Harvey Keitel.
Delivery Boy: Of course you do! Hey, I loved Cape Fear!
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Griffin Mill: Can we talk about something other than Hollywood for a change? We're educated people.
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Griffin Mill: It lacked certain elements that we need to market a film successfully.
June: What elements?
Griffin Mill: Suspense, laughter, violence. Hope, heart, nudity, sex. Happy endings. Mainly happy endings.
June: What about reality?
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Griffin Mill: Let's go to Acapulco.
June: Is that the thing to do?
Griffin Mill: It's *a* thing to do.
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Griffin Mill: This is a red wine glass. Can I have my water in a water glass?
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Larry Levy: I'll be there right after my AA meeting.
Griffin Mill: Oh Larry, I didn't realise you had a drinking problem.
Larry Levy: Well I don't really, but that's where all the deals are being made these days.
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Andy Civelli: Griffin, you move in mysterious ways, but I like it! I like it!
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June: I like words and letters, but I'm not crazy about complete sentences.
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Griffin Mill: No stars, just talent.
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Detective Susan Avery: So you're saying if you drove a shitty car, you would park in the parking lot.
Griffin Mill: No, I'm saying if I were driving a shitty car, I would be a dead man.
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June: I don't go to movies.
Griffin Mill: Why not?
June: Life is too short.
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[after watching The Bicycle Thief]
Griffin Mill: Great movie, huh? So refreshing to see something like this after all these... cop movies and, you know, things we do. Maybe we'll do a remake of this!
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Malcolm McDowell: If you've got something to say about me; say it to my face, not behind my back.
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Walter Stuckel: It is my job to keep this very, very, very, very QUIET!
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[Last lines]
June: What took you so long?
Griffin Mill: Traffic was a bitch.
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Griffin Mill: So, what's the story?
Walter Stuckel: Twenty-five words or less? Okay. Movie exec calls writer. Writer's girlfriend says he's at the movies. Exec goes to the movies, meets writer, drinks with writer. Writer gets conked and dies in four inches of dirty water. Movie exec is in deep shit. What do you think?
Griffin Mill: That's more than 25 words and it's bullshit.
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[first lines]
Man 1: [voiceover] Quiet on the set.
Woman: [voiceover] OK, everybody, quiet on the set.
Man 2: [voiceover] Scene 1, take 10. Marker.
Man 1: [voiceover] And - action!
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June: We can't hurry things any more than we can stop them.
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Griffin Mill: Just... stop with the postcards...
David Kahane: [enraged] I don't WRITE POSTCARDS! I WRITE SCRIPTS!
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Malcolm McDowell: Griffin? Griffin! Hi, how are you? Listen: the next time you want to badmouth me, have the courage to do it to my face. You guys are all the same.
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Bonnie Sherow: How could you let him sell you out? What about truth? Reality?
Tom Oakley: What about the way the old ending tested in Canoga Park? Everybody hated it. We reshot it, now everybody loves it. - That's reality.
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June: Why don't you put me in the hot springs and see if I melt?
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June: Do places like this really exist?
Griffin Mill: Only in the movies.
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Griffin Mill: Movies are art, now more than ever.
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Tom Oakley: If I'm perfectly honest, if I think about this, this isn't even an American film.
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Griffin Mill: Who's the D.A.?
Tom Oakley: Ah! No one.
Griffin Mill: No one?
Tom Oakley: No stars on this project. We're going out on a limb on one.
Andy Civelli: You know, uh, like unknown stage actors or maybe somebody English like what's-his-name.
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Griffin Mill: [looking at June's paintings] These are very interesting. I like them... Where do you show?
June: Hmm?
Griffin Mill: Gallery - - what gallery? Who's your dealer?
June: [chuckles] I don't have a "dealer." I couldn't sell these. They're never finished.
Griffin Mill: They're never finished?
June: No, they're just... what I do. For myself. What I feel.
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Jan: A guy named Joe Gillis called. He wants you to meet him at the St. James Club at 10:00 on the patio. Know who this is?
Griffin Mill: Never heard of him.
Jan: He said you'd know him.
Griffin Mill: Anybody know who Joe Gillis is?
Joel Levison: He's a character William Holden played in "Sunset Boulevard." The writer killed by a movie star.
Bonnie Sherow: Gloria Swanson.
Griffin Mill: [starts to laugh] Oh, that guy. Last week he said he was Charles Foster Kane. A week before that it was Rhett Butler.
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June: [on the phone with Griffin] David's gone to the cinema.
Griffin Mill: Oh. When will he be back?
June: When the film's over, I presume.
Griffin Mill: And you are?
June: June.
Griffin Mill: June...?
June: Here we go. You want to know my last name. Well, you're not going to pronounce it - no one can.
Griffin Mill: Try me.
June: Gudmundsdottir.
Griffin Mill: [saying it a few times, pronouncing it fairly accurately] Gudmundsdottir... Gudmundsdottir - - How's that?
June: Eh, very good!
Griffin Mill: Thanks. What do people usually say?
June: Oh, don't ask. Like, anything from Good Dog's Water to Goulash Wallop.
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Detective DeLongpre: [stopping Mill just as he's exiting his gated driveway] Mr. Mill, I'm Detective DeLongpre, Pasadena police.
Griffin Mill: Yes, I recognize you. Did you have a good time at the party last night?
Detective DeLongpre: No, I didn't. I'm not supposed to have a good time when I'm on duty.
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Gar Girard: [in the Pasadena police station hallway, on the way to the lineup] Mr. Mill, Gar Girard. I'm here to represent you. Dick Mellen called me in on this. Here's the situation. They've got a witness and they want you to do a lineup. Now, if you say no, they'll arrest you. I'm certain of that. And even if you get identified, I'll get you off on bail. Now, this witness lives across the street from the parking lot. Even if she makes an identification - a positive ID, right now - even if that happens, it was very late at night. By the time I'm finished with her, the world will have a whole new legal standard for blindness.
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Larry Levy: Bonnie, you're fired.
Bonnie Sherow: Fuck you.
Larry Levy: Oh, it takes more to make it in this business than a dirty mouth.
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Walter Stuckel: How many meetings did you have with this guy?
Griffin Mill: One.
Walter Stuckel: Not counting last night.
Griffin Mill: Not counting last night.
Walter Stuckel: Why'd you go all the way to Pasadena to meet him?
Griffin Mill: He had an idea I was interested in, I wanted to talk to him right away.
Walter Stuckel: His girlfriend, I guess she was a friend of yours, too? Think fast!
[He throws a ball at Griffin who barely catches it]
Griffin Mill: Jesus Christ, Walter! What is this?
Walter Stuckel: It's called the third degree. Don't like it? Wait till the police are asking questions.
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Detective Susan Avery: Paul went and saw a movie the other night and he keeps talking about it. What was that movie, Paul?
Detective DeLongpre: Freaks.
Griffin Mill: Oh yeah, Freaks, Tod Browning, It's a classic.
Detective DeLongpre: One of us. One of us. One of us.
Detective Susan Avery: He keeps saying that.
The Player Quotes
Extended Reading
