Quotes

I'm not a false intellectual like so many in the business. But I think that cinema is an art form in itself. It's an artistic expression that, let's say, makes the public happy.

I feel that cinema should be like a box of surprises, like a magic box. And in that world, anything is allowed to enter, as long as it's always treated with a spirit of "Pop!". Not in the spirit of "Now you understand the problems of society in 1947". No, I don't give a shit about that. I think cinema should be like magic, a surprise, that's all. That's why, to conclude, I love movies . . . and stories.

But I never made a film thinking that I'd win the Grand Prize in Cannes. Never. I always thought it would be so beautiful for my films to be shown in theaters in the suburbs and the theater is packed with people who are enjoying my films. There it is. That's more than enough. There's nothing else.

I think a censor is a kind of dictator. The thing is so old-fashioned. They try to cut our wings. It's a pain in the ass. I hate that. I like freedom. I have always liked freedom. I left Spain because I liked freedom. Someone who says to me, "You have to cut that because you can see the feet!", Fuck you! I never went along with that. No, when I say I never went along with that, I left Spain the second time because of that and I went to see the head censor and I told him, "You know I am leaving this country because you are here. You are an asshole! You piss me off. I'm leaving." Then I left and took my plane. What does it all mean? Who judges? Who is the judge? Who decides? Who has the truth? Who holds the truth with a capital "T"? No one! So there's nothing worse than bullshit that cuts people's wings.

I don't think I've done anything important or magnificent. I'm a worker and the thing I prefer in my life is cinema. When I'm working in cinema, I'm happy. And that's all, you know?

I've always been on good terms with many great people. But, as I've said lots of times before and I'll keep saying in the future, it's Juan Antonio Bardem the one I owe the most. He gave me a job as his assistant back when I was a nobody. I didn't even have a permit to work, any shit like that. I think Juan Antonio liked me so much, above all, for political reasons. I was a Marxist, something that opened some doors for me and, of course, closed some others: there was no way the right-wing could stomach me.