The Player

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?

[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.

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.

[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.!

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!

Griffin Mill:
Can we talk about something other than Hollywood for a change? We're educated people.

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?

Griffin Mill:
Let's go to Acapulco.

June:
Is that the thing to do?

Griffin Mill:
It's *a* thing to do.

Griffin Mill:
This is a red wine glass. Can I have my water in a water glass?

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.

Andy Civelli:
Griffin, you move in mysterious ways, but I like it! I like it!

June:
I like words and letters, but I'm not crazy about complete sentences.

Griffin Mill:
No stars, just talent.

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.

June:
I don't go to movies.

Griffin Mill:
Why not?

June:
Life is too short.

[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!

Malcolm McDowell:
If you've got something to say about me; say it to my face, not behind my back.

Walter Stuckel:
It is my job to keep this very, very, very, very QUIET!

[Last lines]

June:
What took you so long?

Griffin Mill:
Traffic was a b*tch.

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 sh*t. What do you think?

Griffin Mill:
That's more than 25 words and it's bullshit.

[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!

June:
We can't hurry things any more than we can stop them.

Griffin Mill:
Just... stop with the postcards...

David Kahane:
[enraged] I don't WRITE POSTCARDS! I WRITE SCRIPTS!

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.

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.

June:
Why don't you put me in the hot springs and see if I melt?