"But compared to writing a novel, where you can be God, I did the Bay of Pigs invasion in six pages once, and there were 50,000 guys with boots that I didn't have to pay, and all those extras; we didn't have to pay them"
About this Quote
The flex here isn’t historical know-how; it’s production math. John Sayles, the patron saint of scrappy American indie film, is joking about power - but it’s the specific, writerly kind: omnipotence without invoices. By invoking the Bay of Pigs, he grabs an event that screams logistics, budgets, and bodies. Then he deflates it with a sly admission that prose lets you stage a failed CIA-backed invasion like it’s a doodle in the margin.
The line works because it treats “being God” as both a seduction and a critique. In Hollywood, “God” is the person who can afford 50,000 boots. In a novel, “God” is anyone with a keyboard and stamina. Sayles’ jab lands on two targets at once: the industrial absurdity of filmmaking (armies cost money, extras have unions, weather ruins your day) and the quiet authoritarianism of storytelling itself (you create lives, you don’t compensate them, you move them like chess pieces). The repeated “we didn’t have to pay them” is the punchline and the tell: the fantasy of total control is tied to the fantasy of consequence-free creation.
Context matters: Sayles built a career making politically attentive films on modest budgets, often writing and directing his own work. The joke isn’t anti-cinema; it’s a knowing nod from someone who’s lived the limits. Novels are cheaper, freer, and in their own way more dangerous - because nobody stops you from deploying an army.
The line works because it treats “being God” as both a seduction and a critique. In Hollywood, “God” is the person who can afford 50,000 boots. In a novel, “God” is anyone with a keyboard and stamina. Sayles’ jab lands on two targets at once: the industrial absurdity of filmmaking (armies cost money, extras have unions, weather ruins your day) and the quiet authoritarianism of storytelling itself (you create lives, you don’t compensate them, you move them like chess pieces). The repeated “we didn’t have to pay them” is the punchline and the tell: the fantasy of total control is tied to the fantasy of consequence-free creation.
Context matters: Sayles built a career making politically attentive films on modest budgets, often writing and directing his own work. The joke isn’t anti-cinema; it’s a knowing nod from someone who’s lived the limits. Novels are cheaper, freer, and in their own way more dangerous - because nobody stops you from deploying an army.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
|---|
More Quotes by John
Add to List
