Taylor Hackford Quotes

"I think it speaks to the greatness of the man that he truly gave me the gift of allowing me to tell the story warts and all, ... To be able to see the good, the bad, the light, the dark. And Ray Charles had a substantial dark side."
-Taylor Hackford

"When Ray Charles is concentrating he's like a piece of granite, nothing twitches, nothing, ... He sat for 25 minutes solid like that, like a stone, and I thought, 'Oh my God, if he doesn't like it I'm dead.' ... And then finally, after 25 minutes he started to talk back to the screen. I heard him say 'That's right. That's the truth.' ."
-Taylor Hackford

"If you are making a film about a very famous individual you live or die by the person that's going to play the main role, ... In this film I'm in big trouble because everyone knows what Ray Charles looks like. Everyone knows his movements, everyone knows his vocal patterns."
-Taylor Hackford

"I trusted my instincts here, but I'm not stupid. The next thing I did was throw him into the shark tank, ... I threw him in with Ray Charles."
-Taylor Hackford

"The story of Ray Charles is the world underestimating him. ... Everyone ultimately kept saying [to him] ... you really shouldn't be able to do anything because you're a cripple."
-Taylor Hackford

"I had to go to Ray every year and apologize. And he was so wise in his way, he said, 'Taylor, don't worry, it will happen when it's ready to happen,' ."
-Taylor Hackford

"I heard his story and I thought, 'My God, this is a great subject for a film,' ."
-Taylor Hackford