Lina Wertmuller

I love life. I love my friends. I love to eat. Too many things, I love. I am very much an anti-historical character. I am attracted to happy people. Happy people with very grave problems.

Prizes are like butterflies, colorful butterflies that fly away. I don't believe in prizes much.

I've always been an angel. Sometimes I transform into a witch only because the filmmaking demands it.

Even American artists are terrorized by market forces. If one can't see the films, my wings are clipped. I am no longer concerned about this, because I'm focused on making films. Perhaps one day someone who discovers sunken treasures will reexamine my 35 or 36 films - I hope it will be 40 or 50 before I die.

When I was young, I ran to see Astaire and Rogers, Huston, Lubitsch - they were formative for me. I also read 'Flash Gordon' when I was 6, but if I were still reading it when I was 16, I'd have been an imbecile.

I adore the work of Lucas and Spielberg. I'm certainly not trying to minimize their talents, but I'd love to see what they could do when they aren't leading us from reality.

I know they call me a crazy lady, but I'm only interested in making movies and having people see them.

When I was a girl, we all wanted to have fun. That's all we thought about. It didn't occur to us to get married and have babies.

Ah, in work, love and the movies, everything is a fight.

Film is my big problem. I am involved too much. I love too much. I've been trying to resolve it for 35 years now, but for now, I have to keep making them.

For years, the feminists thought of me as an army sergeant. I was too macho for them.

I am a director. I'm the one who can order men around.

My first customer is myself. When I tell a story I like, I can sleep easy. I'm sorry when audiences don't like it, but I have no choice.

Some feminists have this party-line attitude, and they can be very extremist. The most enlightened characters in my film are women.