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Michael Clayton (film) Quotes

Michael Clayton (film) is a TV show that was first aired in 1970 . Michael Clayton ended in 1970.

It features Sydney Pollack, Steven Samuels, Jennifer Fox, and Kerry Orent as producer, James Newton Howard in charge of musical score, and Robert Elswit as head of cinematography.

Michael Clayton (film) is recorded in English and originally aired in United States. Each episode of Michael Clayton (film) is 119 minutes long. Michael Clayton (film) is distributed by Warner Bros..

The cast includes: Tom Wilkinson as Arthur Edens, Sydney Pollack as Marty Bach, Tilda Swinton as Karen Crowder, Austin Williams as Henry Clayton, Ken Howard as Don Jefferies, and Michael O'Keefe as Barry Grissom.

Michael Clayton (film) Quotes

Tom Wilkinson as Arthur Edens

  • (Tom Wilkinson) "Yes. Here we are, all together. Is everyone listening? 'Cause this is the moment you've been waiting for, a very special piece of paper, so let's have a big, paranoid, malignant round of applause -- for United Northfield Culcitate Internal Research Memorandum #229. June 19th, 1991. "Conclusion: The unanticipated marketing growth for Culcitate by small farms in colder climates demands IMMEDIATE cost-benefit analysis." Hah. Would you like a little bit of legal advice? NEVER let a scientist use the words "unanticipated" and "immediate" in the same sentence. Okay? Okay. "In-house field studies have indicated small, short-season farms dependent on well water for human consumption are at risk for toxic, particulate concentrations at levels significant enough to cause serious human tissue damage." Well, this is a long way of saying that you don't even have to leave your house to be killed by our product, we'll pipe it into your kitchen sink. "Culcitate's great market advantage that it is tasteless, colorless, and does not precipitate, has the potential to mask and intensify these potentially lethal exposures." Now, I love this. Not only is this a great product, it is a superb cancer delivery system. "Chemical modifications of Culcitate product, or the addition of a detector molecule such as an odorant or a colorant, would require a top-down redesign of the Culcitate-manufacturing process. These costs, while assumed to be significant, were not summarized here." Which, loosely translated, means "it's going to cost a fortune to go back on this, and I'm just an asshole in a lab, so could someone else PLEASE make the decision?" "CLEARLY, the release of these internal research documents would compromise the effective marketing of Culcitate, and MUST be kept within the protective confines of United Northfield's trade secret language." You don't need me -- to tell you what that means. Goodbye."
  • (Tom Wilkinson) "Michael. Dear Michael. Of course it's you, who else could they send, who else could be trusted? I -- I know it's a long way and you're ready to go to work -- all I'm saying is wait, just wait, just-just-just -- please hear me out because this is not an episode, relapse, f***-up, it's -- I'm begging you Michael. I'm begging you. Try and make believe this is not just madness because this is not just madness. Two weeks ago I came out of the building, okay, I'm running across Sixth Avenue, there's a car waiting, I got exactly 38 minutes to get to the airport and I'm dictating. There's this, this panicked associate sprinting along beside me, scribbling in a notepad, and suddenly she starts screaming, and I realize we're standing in the middle of the street, the light's changed, there's this wall of traffic, serious traffic speeding towards us, and I -- I-I freeze, I can't move, and I'm suddenly consumed with the overwhelming sensation that I'm covered with some sort of film. It's in my hair, my face -- it's like a glaze -- like a -- a coating, and -- at first I thought, oh my god, I know what this is, this is some sort of amniotic; embryonic; fluid. I'm drenched in afterbirth, I've-I've breached the chrysalis, I've been reborn. But then the traffic, the stampede, the cars, the trucks, the horns, the screaming and I'm thinking no-no-no-no, reset, this is not rebirth, this is some kind of giddy illusion of renewal that happens in the final moment before death. And then I realize no-no-no, this is completely wrong because I look back at the building and I had the most stunning moment of clarity. I -- I -- I -- I realized Michael, that I had emerged not from the doors of Kenner, Bach, and Ledeen, not through the portals of our vast and powerful law firm, but from the asshole of an organism whose sole function is to excrete the -- the-the-the poison, the ammo, the defoliant necessary for other, larger, more powerful organisms to destroy the miracle of humanity. And that I had been coated in this patina of s*** for the best part of my life. The stench of it and the stain of it would in all likelihood take the rest of my life to undo. And you know what I did? I took a deep cleansing breath and I set that notion aside. I tabled it. I said to myself as clear as this may be, as potent a feeling as this is, as true a thing as I believe that I have witnessed today, it must wait. It must stand the test of time. And Michael, the time is now."
  • (Tom Wilkinson) "I just need to make my thoughts a little bit more precise. That's, that's my goal."
  • (Michael Clayton) "As good as this feels, you know where it goes."
  • (Tom Wilkinson) "No. No, no, you're wrong. What makes this feel good is that I don't know where it goes."
  • (Tom Wilkinson) "Isn't it what we wait for? To meet someone -- and they're, they're like a lens and suddenly you're looking through them and everything changes and nothing can ever be the same again."

Tilda Swinton as Karen Crowder

  • (Interviewer) "So, with all that pressure and workload, how do you keep a balance between work and life?"
  • (Tilda Swinton) "Balance?"
  • (Tilda Swinton) "I think that's, um, that's something that you search for your whole life, isn't it? Um,"
  • (Tilda Swinton) "It's a shifting balance, really. It's, um, you know. You try to, um --"
  • (Tilda Swinton) "When you really are enjoying what it is you do, who needs balance? There's your balance. There's your balance. When you're really enjoying what it is you do, there's your balance."
  • (Michael Clayton) "I don't know. It could be a number of things."
  • (Tilda Swinton) "Well, give me one."
  • (Michael Clayton) "Frostbite."
  • (Tilda Swinton) "You think this is funny."
  • (Tilda Swinton) "You don't want the money?"
  • (Michael Clayton) "Keep the money. You'll need it."
  • (Ken Howard) "Is this fellow bothering you?"
  • (Michael Clayton) "Am I bothering you?"
  • (Ken Howard) "Karen, I've got a board waiting in there. What the hell's going on? Who are you?"
  • (Michael Clayton) "I'm Shiva, the God of death."

Sydney Pollack as Marty Bach

  • (Sydney Pollack) "Marty Bach, how can I help you?"
  • (Bridget Klein) "Marty, hi. It's Bridget Klein. Look, we're going with a story tomorrow about a settlement in the U-North defoliant case. Do you want to comment?"
  • (Sydney Pollack) "The case you're referring to is now as it has been for the last six years: Pending and unresolved. Until such time as our client has their day in court, and the plantiffs come to their senses and drop the suit, I'll have nothing of value to tell you."
  • (Bridget Klein) "Come on Marty, you're closing the U-North case, you're settling it, I know that. Okay? I know you're up there with like 600 people jamming this thing through."
  • (Sydney Pollack) "Well, here's what I know: Your deadline was twenty minutes ago. So either you're fishing for a story, or you're trying to get out of writing a retraction. In either case I wish you the best of luck."
  • (Sydney Pollack) "Where the f*** is Karen Crowder?"
  • (Sydney Pollack) "Hey. When did you become so f***in' delicate?"
  • (Michael Clayton) "What if Arthur was onto something?"
  • (Sydney Pollack) "What do you mean? Onto what?"
  • (Michael Clayton) "U North. What if he wasn't crazy, what if he was right?"
  • (Sydney Pollack) "Right about what? We're on the wrong side?"
  • (Michael Clayton) "Wrong side, wrong way. Anything. All of it."
  • (Sydney Pollack) "This is news? This case reeked from day one. Fifteen years in I gotta tell you how we pay the rent?"
  • (Michael Clayton) "But what would they do, what would they do if he went public?"
  • (Sydney Pollack) "What would they do? Are you f***ing soft? They're doing it. We don't straighten this settlement out in the next twenty four hours, they're gonna withhold nine million dollars in fees. Then they're gonna pull out the video of Arthur doing his flashdance in Milwaukee, they're gonna sue us for legal malpractice. Except there won't be anything for them to win, because by then the merger with London will be dead and we'll be selling off the god**** furniture."
  • (Sydney Pollack) "That's eighty. We're calling it a bonus. You've got a three year contract, that's your current numbers, that's assuming this all works out."
  • (Sydney Pollack) "We've got 600 attorneys here. We've got to find out who's an expert on psychiatric commitment statutes."
  • (Michael Clayton) "I can tell you who that is: Arthur."

Austin Williams as Henry Clayton

  • (Michael Clayton) "Uncle Timmy- and I mean this- on his best day, he was never as tough as you. And I'm not talking about crying or the drugs. I'm talking about in his heart. You understand me?"
  • (Austin Williams) "Okay."
  • (Michael Clayton) "Big Tim -- Uncle Boss -- all his charming bulls***. And I know you love him. And I know why. But when you see him like this, you don't have to be afraid, because it's not how it's gonna be for you. You're not gonna be one of those people who goes through life wondering why s*** keeps falling out of the sky around them. You have some real steel in you, Henry. Inside. I see it every time I look at you. I see it right now."
  • (Michael Clayton) "I don't know where the hell you got it from, but you got it."
  • (Austin Williams) "What?"
  • (Michael Clayton) "Your uncle Timmy, and I mean this, on his best day, is never as tough as you. I'm not talking about crying or drugs or anything like that. I'm talking about in his heart. In his heart. Do you understand me? And all this charming bulls***. This Big Tim, Uncle Boss bulls*** -- and I know you love him and I know why -- but when you see him like that you don't have to worry -- because that's not how it's going to be for you. You're not going to be one of these people who goes through life wondering why s*** keeps falling out of the sky around them. I know that. I know it. OK?"
  • (Michael Clayton) "I see it every time I look at you. I see it right now. I don't know where you got it from, but you got it. OK?"
  • (Michael Clayton) "Hold on --"
  • (Austin Williams) "It's really happening."
  • (Tom Wilkinson) "Yeah, It is happening, isn't it? Something larger than themselves and they're not ready, are they to hear it?"
  • (Austin Williams) "Yeah. But later they will."

Michael O'Keefe as Barry Grissom

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