When I was growing up in the ’80s and working in the theater, David Mamet exploded with a whole new reworking of what dialogue should sound like. It was punchy and raw and repetitive, bursting with dynamic. I remember that switching on a lot of lights for me. Anthony McCarten Read Quote
When I grew up, my house contained only two books: the Bible and the ‘Edmonds’ cookbook. We were a working-class household. Books were a poor second to the television, which was always on, usually with me in front of it. Anthony McCarten Read Quote
Before Churchill had done anything else, he was a writer. He believed to the core that words matter. They count. They can change the world. Anthony McCarten Read Quote
If you look at the copies of Churchill’s speeches that have survived, they are heavily marked up. He was scrupulous about the impact of each word. He preferred short words and the repetition of short words. He knew everything about the techniques of rhetoric. Anthony McCarten Read Quote
There is the cult of the actor and of the director, and there’s even been the cult of the celebrity chef and gardener, but there has never been a cult of the screenwriter. But I’m happy about that because what I crave – in a completely venal way – is creative opportunities, not recognition. Anthony McCarten Read Quote
I’m still always surprised that anyone might be interested in my work or me. Anthony McCarten Read Quote
I still present myself as a New Zealander, answering people’s questions about New Zealand and contributing in my own unlikely way to the global perception that Kiwis can and do fly high. Anthony McCarten Read Quote
Since my student days, I’d been a fan of those books with titles like ‘Great Speeches that Changed the World,’ as I loved the idea that the right person with the right words at the right time could really make a difference. Anthony McCarten Read Quote
One of the great things about Churchill is that he had the guts to say the unpalatable, to level with the people, even if it cost him politically to tell them the truth. Anthony McCarten Read Quote
I often find that writers who disavow the importance of an ending are just not very good at endings. Anthony McCarten Read Quote
