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" In a way, I think of the press as my colleagues. I don't want to throw hand grenades at people who do something that's pretty similar to what I do. But at the same time, we all need to take ourselves seriously and be responsible as professionals. And there was a collective failure in the treatment of Christopher Jefferies. "

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" Self-destruction is such an interesting thing for a dramatist, and what's particular to Nixon is how human the failings were that led to his downfall. "

Peter Morgan

How

Were

Downfall

" I don't understand and don't enjoy sci-fi, and it's just that if people aren't real, and they don't live in a real and recognizable society, I don't understand what to do. "

" I've done a lot of work in Hollywood and theatre, but to be honest, the biggest pleasure I've ever got is from the TV single plays I've written. It's a format where you don't mind saying, 'I want to tackle some important themes head on.' "

" It's important to me what the viewers think. "

" The real beauty in my professional experience has been friendships and collaborations with filmmakers. "

" Barack Obama winning the election had an instant impact on everything - race relations, national self-esteem, tolerance. It also had an instant affect on 'Frost/Nixon.' At a stroke, instead of being a piece that reminded people of the agony they were in, it became an uplifting message about the agony they had escaped. "

" As historians write more and more histories, it's a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy that other historians read their histories and then make synthesis, and certain things just get forgotten and left out and neglected. "

Peter Morgan

Write

Forgotten

" As a dramatist, you have 200 choices at every fork in the road. But the audience will reject it if you make the wrong choice, if they feel you are trying to shape the character in a way that suits you. It rings false immediately. People can sense when you're being cynical or schematic. "

" By nature of the job, most actors are striking, remarkable, and alpha. "

" I can't relax when I'm watching a biographical drama because it's so close to what it is that I do that I just long for more fiction - so that I can switch off. "

" No family is complete without an embarrassing uncle. "

" Some of the things I have written about are a way of connecting with my father - I know he knew who Idi Amin was, and I know he knew who Longford was. And I know he knew who Nixon was, because shortly before he died, I talked to him about Watergate. "

" I have a great deal of compassion for those in public life and what we have done to them. "

" The minute you become a leader of a country, you go into a very small club. You join that sort of pantheon of other world leaders. "

" The films of which I'm most proud I've written are the ones that pivot on forgiveness. "

" In some shape or form, we do have an emotional connection to our head of state, even if, for the most part, they seem very remote. "

" Everything I write, I've written the first draft in Austria. "

" People bang on all the time about whether what I've done is the truth or not. Well, to me, history is just a series of elaborate fictions. "

Peter Morgan

People

History

" When I started writing the screenplay for 'The Queen,' about the aftermath of the death of Princess Diana, both Stephen Frears, the director, and Andy Harries, the producer, begged me not to put Tony Blair in it. "

Peter Morgan

Queen

Writing

" Sometimes you are lucky enough to get offered things, and there is no rhyme or reason. I am very lucky because I come from England, and you have a whole range of things offered to you, from television plays and shows and theatre, so much more to explore, so it's never really money. "

" There's nothing wrong with anybody from any other country having a perspective on the British royal family. It would be interesting. But I just doubt that they would get the dialogue right. "

" I can't help slightly falling in love with every character I write about. And I quite like writing about people who are vilified. "

" Most leading actresses have this energy, this 'Look at me. Here I am.' They're powerful; they're beautiful. "

Peter Morgan

Energy

Beautiful

" There is no inherent contradiction between being right-wing and being intelligent. "

" If you don't belong somewhere, that outsider status you have gives you perspective. Of course, another word for outsider is 'exile,' and that's not fun at all. "

" I just feel that if I'm English and writing about an American president, I have got to have someone on my side who can help me out when I'm lapsing into lazy or obvious European skepticism. "

" It was so interesting to discover Nixon was a Californian. I always think Nixon should come from a cold place. "

" If you think about what you do, if you become self-conscious about it, you've got to be very careful. Because I really like to write without self-awareness of what I'm doing. "

Peter Morgan

Self-Awareness

Think

" My experience is, I do a table reading, and it's literally like it's written in colossal neon lights what's wrong with the screenplay. "

Peter Morgan

Lights

Reading

" Every dramatist will tell you that they know deep down what happened in the course of making that film and to what degree they took steps that were convenient and to what degree they took steps in telling their story that were dishonest. You know in your heart of hearts. "