Babylon (2022) Best Movie Quotes

Jack Conrad: And then he says, “Hasta la vista, m**herf***er.”

Jack Conrad: And then he says, “Frankly, Scarlett, you’re a c***.”

Ruth Adler: Action! Eyes water. Light. And tears!

Employee: Oh, my God. It’s a fire! Everyone, run! Run!
Ruth Adler: Don’t stop the camera! Keep rolling! Keep rolling!

Ruth Adler: I got to ask you something.
Nellie LaRoy: Yeah? Was it okay?
Ruth Adler: It was incredible! How do you do it? Just tear up over and over like it’s nothing?
Nellie LaRoy: I just think of home.

Don Wallach: We’re really excited about our new discovery, Nellie LaRoy.
Reporter: Is she here tonight? Can you point her out to me?
Don Wallach: Yeah, she’s the one having sex with the ice sculpture. We’re all very fond of her.

Jack Conrad: It needs more punch. Take two frames off the tail and three more off the head.

Jack Conrad: I saw Olga Putti sing to herself in Hungarian, and I think I’m in love. Send two dozen roses to her dressing room every morning this week.
Manny Torres: You know she doesn’t speak English?
Jack Conrad: Neither does love.

Robert Roy: Is that snakeskin? I once fought a rattlesnake, and it’s against the law to even deal with a rattlesnake. And there are laws now because I fought the rattlesnake and lived.

Robert Roy: Naturally, I always knew my daughter had it in her. We’re going to do great things together, she and I. By the way, the name is Robert Roy. She added the “La”.

Constance Moore: This goddamn b**ch is stealing the scene right from under me! She’s changing the blocking with every take. She’s icing her nipples so they perk up through her dress!
Nellie LaRoy: F*** you. I ain’t icing my nipples. This is natural. You’re just sore because yours look like f***ing latkes.

Constance Moore: And she placed this in my dressing room!
Nellie LaRoy: I don’t even know what that is.

Constance Moore: [referring to Nellie] Stop! She’s changed the blocking again!
Ruth Adler: Fine. Grab a close up.
Constance Moore: No! No close up.
Ruth Adler: To match-cut with yours.
Constance Moore: I’m the star! I get the close up!

Nellie LaRoy: What do you say we come in for my close up now?

Jack Conrad: This is what we’ve been looking for! Sound is how we redefine the form. Sound!

Jack Conrad: [referring to Olga, who’s throwing a tantrum] Manuel, what’s she saying? I got him learning Hungarian because he’s good with languages.
Manny Torres: Something about “getting f***ed by a wheelbarrow of monkeys”.

Jack Conrad: Look, don’t stand in the way of progress, Irv. Sound is the future.

Manny Torres: You remember me.
Nellie LaRoy: Yeah, of course I remember you. How could I forget?
Manny Torres: And you’re a star now.
Nellie LaRoy: I was always a star. Remember?

Nellie LaRoy: He thinks I have a gambling problem, which I don’t. I only gamble if I’m, you know, pi**ed, or drunk, or having a great night.

Manny Torres: Jack Conrad sent me.
Nellie LaRoy: Jack Conrad?
Manny Torres: Yeah, I’m working with him.
Nellie LaRoy: Oh! I would f*** him.

Nellie LaRoy: [referring to her father, Robert] He’s actually my business manager now.
Manny Torres: He is?
Nellie LaRoy: Yeah. He’s so bad at it. Cannot add. Cannot spell.
Manny Torres: Why don’t you hire someone else?
Nellie LaRoy: He’s my dad. What else is he going to do?

Nellie LaRoy: God, I’ve never done nothing except disappoint people my whole life.

Nellie LaRoy: They f***ed up with me, Manny. They really f***ed up with me. Because I make them squirm. And I like making them squirm. Let them know that I got here on my terms, not theirs. And when I’m done, I’m going to dance my a** off into the night. And they’ll know. Everyone will f***ing know that they could never control one goddamn f***ing thing.

Manny Torres: It’s just easier to be on my own.
Nellie LaRoy: I’ve always been on my own.

Max: Who sneezed? Who the f*** sneezed? Kike-nosed, Hymie-hole piece of mongoloid s**t! I see you. Oh, I see you right there, you little Shylock d**kface. Wipe your nose again! Wipe your little hook nose, you menorah m**herf***er! Now, does anyone else here need to sneeze? Huh? Does anyone else here need to f*** this scene in the a**?

Max: Now, if anyone stops this scene again, I will s**t on you! I will s**t in your mouth. I promise you!

Jack Conrad: Manuel! Meet Estelle. She’s from Broadway. She’s a real actor. We got engaged yesterday. Now she’s trying to explain to me that movies are a low art.

Carmelita: Hola, Jackie.
Jack Conrad: Hola, Carmelita.
Jack Conrad: [to Estelle] I have no idea who that is.

Jack Conrad: I believe movies are every bit as profound. And with sync sound, which, who knows, could be what the discovery of perspective was for painting, I think what we have here in Hollywood is high art. It’s…
Nellie LaRoy: Party time, sparkle c**ks!

Nellie LaRoy: [as she kisses him] Jack Conrad? You are even more f***able in person.

Robert Roy: It’s a good thing we met, Jack. I got a business proposition just for you. A Nellie-themed diner. I’m going to call it The Wild Child Grill. I’m going to serve sandwiches shaped like her face.

Sidney Palmer: Alexander Scriabin was a Russian pianist. Broke his hands just so his fingers could stretch across the keys better. I’m saying if I f***ing headbutt you across them funky-a** lips of yours, you might start playing a little better. We can hope.
Reggie: You’re f***ing deranged, Sidney.

Robert Roy: Nellie dresses low because Nellie is low.

Jack Conrad: [as George is trying to drown his head in the toilet] Aw, Georgie. Who was it this time?
George Munn: Claire.
Jack Conrad: Claire. Well, Claire’s a lesbian. That’s an uphill battle for anyone.

Nellie LaRoy: Listen up, all you big-dick Mister Men! Who wants to see my dad fight a f***ing snake?
Jack Conrad: F***, yeah! A snake’s getting fought!

Sidney Palmer: [to Manny] I think you got those cameras pointed in the wrong direction.

Manny Torres: Gentlemen, here’s the plan. We turn Nellie LaRoy into a lady. We change her parts. We fix her voice. No more drugs. No more gambling.

Manny Torres: There’s a new sensibility now. People care about morals.

Irving Thalberg: [to Jack] Listen, there’s no good way to say this. They found George in his home this morning. Looks like he struck out with a girl he was seeing. He shot himself.

Jack Conrad: [referring to George] He was the first one to say I have talent. He saved my life.

Jack Conrad: [to Estelle] It’s not a low art, you know. I want you to know that. What I do means something to millions of people.

Jack Conrad: [to Estelle, referring to nickelodeons] There’s beauty there. What happens up on that screen means something. Maybe not to you in your ivory tower. But for real people on the ground, it means something.

Jack Conrad: [to Estelle] A hundred thousand people see you on Broadway, and it’s the smash of the century, right? Well, here it’s a flop! A f***ing flop! So do me a favor, darling. Save your subtext recommendations for your pretentious Eugene O’Neill-Henrik Ibsen jerk-offs that only a handful of rich geriatrics give two f***s about, and I’ll do what I do, without your help!

Elinor St. John: These people choose who stays and who goes. So show them that you’re a lady of sophistication, and you’ll be back on top. So, now, what did we discuss?
Nellie LaRoy: “-ing” not “-in”. “Isn’t” not “ain’t”. And when in doubt, say something French.

Manny Torres: Listen to me, I’m here for you. It’s you and me. You could be a star again, Nellie. Again. It’s you and me.

Nellie LaRoy: Haven’t you heard what they say about me? I’m a degenerate f***ing animal.

Nellie LaRoy: You people make me f***ing sick! You’re not better than me! You’re not!

Elinor St. John: What are your thoughts for the future?
Jack Conrad: Well, my last two movies didn’t work, but I learned a lot from them. There were things I’d taken for granted, that maybe I shouldn’t have.

Elinor St. John: Do you miss the silents?
Jack Conrad: No. We shouldn’t stand in the way of progress.

Jack Conrad: You know, when I first moved to LA, you know what the signs on all the doors read? “No actors or dogs allowed.” Yeah, I changed that. I helped build this place you call home.

Elinor St. John: There’s nothing you could have done differently. There’s nothing you can do. Your time has run out. There is no why. Stop questioning it.
Jack Conrad: I’m on a dry spell.
Elinor St. John: No. It’s over. It’s been over for a while. I’m sorry.

Elinor St. John: [to Jack] Have you ever stopped to think why, when there’s a house fire, the people die and the c**kroaches all survive? What happened was you thought the house needed you. It doesn’t. Doesn’t need you any more than it needs the roaches. And the roaches, knowing this, crawl back into the dark, lay low, and make it through.

Elinor St. John: [to Jack] You held the spotlight. It’s those of us in the dark, the ones who just watch, who survive.

Elinor St. John: An earthquake could wipe this town off the map and wouldn’t make a difference. It’s the idea that sticks. There will be a hundred more Jack Conrads. Hundred more me’s. Hundred more conversations just like this one, over and over again, until God knows when. Because it’s bigger than you. I know it hurts. No one asks to be left behind. But in a hundred years, when you and I are both long gone, any time someone threads a frame of yours through a sprocket, you will be alive again.

Elinor St. John: [to Jack] A child born in fifty years will stumble across your image flickering on a screen and feel he knows you, like a friend, though you breathed your last before he breathed his first. You’ve been given a gift. Be grateful. Your time today is through, but you’ll spend eternity with angels and ghosts.

Nellie LaRoy: Manny! I need your help. I’m in so much trouble, and I really need your help.

Manny Torres: You f***ed my life!
Nellie LaRoy: I have nowhere else to go. You’re my only friend. You’re the only one, Manny! You’re the only one who’s ever been nice to me. You’re the only one who’s ever cared.
Manny Torres: I’ve always helped you, and all you’ve done is break my heart!

Nellie LaRoy: I’ve had an idea. I was thinking, you know what, I can dance. And if I can dance, then I bet I can sing. Because you know what? You can do anything if you set your mind to it.

James McKay: There’s a ten year-old kid and he’s a prodigy at all these adult things. He’s supersmart with words. He can play the piano, and recite Lincoln, and all this stuff. Here’s the twist. Turns out he’s a fifty year-old midget. He only looks like he’s a kid. The joke’s on us.

Manny Torres: The money in the bag is prop money?
The Count: Well, where was I going to get eighty-five grand in two days?

James McKay: You ever heard of Wyatt Earp? He died a couple of years ago. I met him once. Little known fact. The greatest hero of the Wild West couldn’t count.
Manny Torres: No?
James McKay: No. So I was thinking, you make a movie about him, and in it, you make him full-fledged r***rd.

James McKay: Welcome to the a**hole of Los Angeles.

James McKay: [to Manny] I promised you a sight. You’re getting a sight.

James McKay: He’s just made for the movies, isn’t he? They found him in a forest in Oregon. He will do anything for cash.

Lady Fay Zhu: So how’s your movie?
Jack Conrad: It’s s**t. Another giant swing at mediocrity.
Lady Fay Zhu: Well, the girl seems nice.
Jack Conrad: She is. And she has no idea it’ll end like all the others.

Jack Conrad: It was the most magical place in the world, wasn’t it?
Lady Fay Zhu: It was.
Jack Conrad: Another set, another review. Another romance, another breakup. I’m tired, Fay.

Jack Conrad: I’ve been the luckiest b****rd in the world. I had a good run, didn’t I?
Lady Fay Zhu: You sure did.
Jack Conrad: Yeah. I enjoyed that.

Jack Conrad: Hey, you do a great job. What’s the best tip you’ve ever received?
Bellhop: Fifty dollars.
Jack Conrad: Who gave you that?
Bellhop: You did, Mr. Conrad.
Jack Conrad: It’s on you now, kid. The future’s yours.
[he then goes to his room, takes a gun, and shoots himself]

Nellie LaRoy: It’s the end of the road for me. This is it for me.
Manny Torres: Cállate. It’s not.
Nellie LaRoy: I’m at peace with that.

Nellie LaRoy: I don’t think I’m very good for you.
Manny Torres: Nellie, I want to marry you. I want to make you so happy every day. Okay, it’s my only job. From now on. But we have to leave now.

Nellie LaRoy: We’ll go to Mexico. We’ll go to the border, and we’ll go down south, and we’ll get married, and we’ll have kids. It’ll be you and me, okay?
Manny Torres: Okay. Te amo, Nellie.
Nellie LaRoy: I love you, Manny.

Manny Torres: [1952, visiting LA with wife and kids, in Spanish] They make anything good these days?
Guard at Gate: [in Spanish] You don’t go to the movies?
Manny Torres: [in Spanish] Not much anymore. I own an audio shop in New York. Radios, that kind of thing.