Many times, I get young people asking, ‘What do you think about black movies?’ And I say, ‘What are you talking about? You mean Hollywood movies that have black people in them?’ It’s gone back to that, and that’s not the same thing as a black movie. Melvin Van Peebles Read Quote
When I got to Paris, they welcomed me and showed my films. It was August of 1960, and I didn’t have a penny in my pocket. But they had done something very dangerous: They had given me encouragement. Melvin Van Peebles Read Quote
I used to be the third person in the secret jets we had – they were secret at the time – a jet bomber that flew at immense heights carrying atomic bombs. Melvin Van Peebles Read Quote
No one – black, white, or any different – walks away from a three-picture deal with a studio. That’s every filmmaker’s dream. But it wasn’t mine. Melvin Van Peebles Read Quote
Blacks are tired of seeing whites saying, ‘I understand you.’ You need a black to direct a black film. Melvin Van Peebles Read Quote
I walk down the street; the garbagemen will shout at me, and we’ll talk. That’s a pleasure when people feel, ‘If he can do it, I can, too.’ Melvin Van Peebles Read Quote
You’ve got to really check on what you’re doing: check and recheck it seven other times to be prepared. Sometimes, people get carried away with the artistic-ness of the endeavor and don’t quite have their game face on when the time comes. It’s always a pretty costly mistake. Melvin Van Peebles Read Quote
I graduated from college when I was 20. To get enough money to finish college, I went into the ROTC, and I was an officer in the Air Force before I could buy a drink. Melvin Van Peebles Read Quote
