(Article is below...)

The Interpreter Quotes

The Interpreter is a television program that was first aired in 1970 . The Interpreter stopped airing in 1970.

It features Tim Bevan as producer, James Newton Howard in charge of musical score, and Darius Khondji as head of cinematography.

The Interpreter is recorded in English and originally aired in United Kingdom. Each episode of The Interpreter is 128 minutes long. The Interpreter is distributed by Universal Pictures.

The cast includes: Earl Cameron as Zuwanie, Nicole Kidman as Silvia Broome, Sean Penn as Tobin Keller, Yusuf Gatewood as Doug, Catherine Keener as Dot Woods, Hugo Speer as Simon Broome, Adrian Martinez as Roland, Sydney Pollack as Jay Pettigrew, Jesper Christensen as Nils Lud, David Zayas as Charlie Russell, and George Harris as Kuman-Kuman.

The Interpreter Quotes

Sydney Pollack as Jay Pettigrew

  • (Sydney Pollack) "Keller? Go home and get some sleep."
  • (Sean Penn) "I'm gonna stay here and wait for her."
  • (Sydney Pollack) "Like hell you are. I need you awake tomorrow morning. Woods?"
  • (Catherine Keener) "Hold on."
  • (Sydney Pollack) "Get him home."
  • (Sydney Pollack) "Are you sure you're ready to come back?"
  • (Sean Penn) "I'm better working."
  • (Sydney Pollack) "We got a credible threat?"
  • (Sean Penn) "We should assume so."
  • (Sydney Pollack) "As popular as we are in the rest of the world these days, the last thing we can afford is to have some foreign leader get popped on our soil, particularly a guy like this that we don't like. So state wants you to know, N.S.A., C.I.A., F.B.I., whatever you need to keep this maniac's heart beating till he makes his speech and gets the hell out, it's yours."

Nicole Kidman as Silvia Broome

  • (American Ambassador Davis) "Let's be clear, Mr. Ambassador. The United States may not recognize the I.C.C. as a legitimate court, but we certainly do not condone the methods President Zuwanie uses against his own people."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Dr. Zuwanie is an educator. He is -- our teacher. But his opponents engage in evermore ferocious acts. The partisans of both Kuman-Kuman and Ajene Xola have become -- terrorists."
  • (American Ambassador Davis) "The French proposal is a diplomatic headache for both of us."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "When will I know the results?"
  • (Sean Penn) "Straight away. You know when you're lying don't you?"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "My brother -- my brother was right. It takes too long, Tobin. I'm going home."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "What was her name?"
  • (Sean Penn) "Laurie. Keller. Killed in an auto accident in Santa Fe. Twenty-three days ago."
  • (Sean Penn) "Rest in peace?"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Close enough."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Do you think I'm making it up? Why would I report a threat I didn't hear?"
  • (Sean Penn) "People do."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "I don't."
  • (Sean Penn) "Some people like attention."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "I don't."
  • (Sean Penn) "Maybe you don't want Zuwanie at the U.N."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "I didn't make it up."
  • (Sean Penn) "How do you feel about him?"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "I don't care for him."
  • (Sean Penn) "Wouldn't mind if he were dead?"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "I wouldn't mind if he were gone."
  • (Sean Penn) "Same thing."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "No, it isn't. If I interpreted gone as dead I'd be out of a job, if dead and gone were the same thing there'd be no UN."
  • (Sean Penn) "Your profession is playing with words Ms. Broome."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "I don't play with words."
  • (Sean Penn) "You're doing it right now."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "No, you are. If I wanted him dead, I wouldn't have reported it. I would sit back and let it happen. That's not what I want, that's not why I'm here."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Peace, security and freedom are not finite commodities like land, oil or gold, which one state can acquire at another's expense."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Any leads?"
  • (Sean Penn) "Maybe one. Come on down to Mexico."
  • (Sean Penn) "Is that you? Can you tell me what somebody like you, who uses the word "diplomacy", like she's chastising me, is doing at a rebel rally?"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "A peace rally."
  • (Sean Penn) "I don't want to do this again."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "That's exactly what it is. What I am doing is listening."
  • (Sean Penn) "After that, after you listen."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "You're asking the wrong question."
  • (Sean Penn) "I'm asking you the question you don't want to answer."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Why would somebody take a picture and type the names of everyone in it on the back. This is a death list. The question you should be asking is "who gave me this?" and "why?""
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Hove Vambi -- killed by land-mines. Alexander Mungoshi -- Charles Kufomo -- Ruth Kufomo -- shot to death defending their home. Robert Chenjari -- Benita Matkudzi -- burned to death during a protest rally. Edgar Sakuro -- Masumi Bamcha -- John Enkumo -- Yvon Enkumo --"
  • (G.A. President) "Let the record show --"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Steven Gawanda --"
  • (G.A. President) "-- that the Security Council --"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Solo Gawanda --"
  • (G.A. President) "-- has unanimously commanded --"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Steven Shamere --"
  • (G.A. President) "-- that President Zuwanie of Matobo --"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Stambuli Watiku -- Esther Tikembu --"
  • (G.A. President) "-- be tried at the lnternational Criminal Court in The Hague -- for crimes against humanity."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Simon Broome -- shot to death in a soccer stadium."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Listen, I'm scared, and my protector is some one who doesn't believe me."
  • (Sean Penn) "You don't look scared --"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "People handle fear in different ways, Mr. Keller. It turns some people into stand up comedians. You don't know me at all. Maybe I should talk to someone else about assigning someone to look after me who's better suited to the job."
  • (Sean Penn) "My job is not to look after you, it's to look after the man who's been threatened, if there was a threat. My job, as it concerns you, is to investigate you."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "So you're not here to offer me any protection whatsoever?"
  • (Sean Penn) "No, Ma'am."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "And we were getting along so well."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Vengeance is a lazy form of grief."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "I heard something today. I don't know if I can say -- If I'm permitted to. It was in a closed --"
  • (Police Chief Lee Wu) "You are permitted. In fact, you're obligated, as you were last night when you didn't."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "I think they were talking about Edmond Zuwanie. He's planning to come here to address the G.A."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Do you know that the leading cause of death for beavers is falling trees?"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "I'll be honest with you; I don't know how honest I can be with you."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "I'm not lying. I went to him for help."
  • (Sean Penn) "With what?"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "I can't tell you. Someone might get hurt."
  • (Sean Penn) ""Someone might get hurt". There's a bus full of dead people. "Someone might get hurt?". Who? Someone you know? Someone who's mixed up in all this?"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Everyone who loses somebody wants revenge on someone, on God if they can't find anyone else. But in Africa, in Matobo, the Ku believe that the only way to end grief is to save a life. If someone is murdered, a year of mourning ends with a ritual that we call the Drowning Man Trial. There's an all-night party beside a river. At dawn, the killer is put in a boat. He's taken out on the water and he's dropped. He's bound so that he can't swim. The family of the dead then has to make a choice. They can let him drown or they can swim out and save him. The Ku believe that if the family lets the killer drown, they'll have justice but spend the rest of their lives in mourning. But if they save him, if they admit that life isn't always just -- that very act can take away their sorrow."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "We're "kepéla". It means standing on opposite sides of the river."
  • (Sean Penn) "You've got to give me a reason to get to the other side."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "I walked away from Africa with nothing. No brother, no family, no lover, nothing -- Just a belief that words and compassion are the better way. Even if it's slower than a gun."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Watch it. There's a line, man."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "That little boy was my country."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "What do you do when you can't sleep?"
  • (Sean Penn) "I stay awake"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "We don't name the dead."

Sean Penn as Tobin Keller

  • (Sean Penn) "Guys, get with me here. We got a situation."
  • (Sean Penn) "Come on, guys. Talk to me. What's going on?"
  • (Sean Penn) "What are you not telling me?"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "What are you accusing me of?"
  • (Sean Penn) "How do you feel about Zuwanie, never mind "I don't care for him"?"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "I feel disappointment."
  • (Sean Penn) "That's a lover's word. What about rage? Of all the people that I've looked into since this thing started, the one with the darkest Zuwanie history is you. It was his landmines that killed your --"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Shh."
  • (Sean Penn) "What were you doing on that bus?"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Thank you for bringing me home."
  • (Sean Penn) "Hey. Hey. I lost a man today. A kid. How do you know Kuman?"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "I don't. I never met him before."
  • (Sean Penn) "You're lying to me again."
  • (Sean Penn) "Do you think you can identify the voice you heard if you heard it again?"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Well, I'd say yes, if it were -- It was almost a whisper. Whispers disguise the quality of a voice. You, I imagine, study faces. You know, I'm not really a dignitary."
  • (Sean Penn) "I know. How'd you happen to be up there after hours?"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "We had an evacuation. I'd left some things in the sound booth. I had to go back for them."
  • (Sean Penn) "And at that moment, there happened to be a couple fellas talking about an assassination in a language that you and maybe eight other people understand, in a room full of microphones."
  • (Sean Penn) "You think that not getting caught in a lie is the same thing as telling the truth."
  • (Sean Penn) "No. Just get off that bus. Get everybody off that bus right now."
  • (Sean Penn) "I'd rather make the mistake of believing her, than the bigger one of not."
  • (Sean Penn) "But not just dead. Dead in front of the delegates of a hundred and ninety one countries, and every news service with a camera. Dead in front of the world."
  • (Jonathan Williams) "Nobody needs to be that dead."
  • (Sean Penn) "You can't do that. You cannot do that. How the hell am I supposed to protect you if I don't know where you are?"
  • (Sean Penn) "He's here. He's in the building. I just saw him. Broadcast that description."

David Zayas as Charlie Russell

  • (David Zayas) "s***. She just got on the bus with Kuman."
  • (Sean Penn) "What the hell is she doing?"

Hugo Speer as Simon Broome

  • (Hugo Speer) "She wouldn't tell me her husband's name. She wouldn't even write it."

Catherine Keener as Dot Woods

  • (Catherine Keener) "Now that's just rude."
  • (Catherine Keener) "Are we using her as bait?"
  • (Catherine Keener) "They're not our family, and they're not our friends. You told me that."
  • (Catherine Keener) "Ma'am, ma'am, excuse me, please don't touch the Prime Minister. I need you to step back, please."
  • (FBI Agent Lewis) "We're on loan --"
  • (Catherine Keener) "Which means they have to be returned in the same condition, or we don't get our money back."

Jesper Christensen as Nils Lud

  • (Jesper Christensen) "So, what do we make of this Interpreter? Is she making it up? Is she imagining things?"
  • (Jesper Christensen) "Nils Lud. Dr Zuwanie's head of security. I thought since you were in a question-answering mood, I might ask one or two. Might I ask where you stand now politically, Miss Broome?"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "I'm for peace and quiet, Mr. Lud. It's why I came to the U.N. Quiet diplomacy."
  • (Jesper Christensen) "With respect, you only interpret."
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Countries have gone to war because they've misinterpreted one another."

Earl Cameron as Zuwanie

  • (Earl Cameron) "THE GUNFIRE AROUND us makes it hard to hear. But the human voice is different from other sounds. It can be heard over noises that bury everything else. Even when it's not shouting. Even when it's just a whisper. Even the lowest whisper can be heard; -over armies -- when it's telling the truth."

Yusuf Gatewood as Doug

(We don't have any quotes for this character)

George Harris as Kuman-Kuman

  • (George Harris) "An almost-assassinated leader gets so much credibility, so he can stay in power and gets to stick around to enjoy it."

Adrian Martinez as Roland

  • (Adrian Martinez) "What is that?"
  • (Nicole Kidman) "Come on, Roland, it's my flutes and stuff. I have a lesson tonight. Don't make me drag it down just to drag it back up."
  • (Adrian Martinez) "I let you do this, I'm gonna get coats and hats and yogi mats --"

Add or Update Quotes

If you have a quote to add or change and want to let us know, please fill in the form below. Include the time in the film/video if possible so we can find it.




Additional Film and TV Quotes

Oh, Mr Porter! Quotes | Anand (1971 film) Quotes | Last Rights (miniseries) Quotes | Valiant (film) Quotes | The Case for Christ Quotes | Walk the Line Quotes | The Young Poisoner's Handbook Quotes | Saw II Quotes | At Home Among Strangers Quotes | C'est la vie, mon chéri Quotes | Let It Ride (film) Quotes | City on Fire (1987 film) Quotes | Used Cars Quotes | Ace in the Hole (1951 film) Quotes | Fortunate Son (Star Trek: Enterprise) Quotes | Civilization (Star Trek: Enterprise) Quotes | The Decline of Western Civilization III Quotes | Fandango (1985 film) Quotes | Near Dark Quotes | Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa Quotes | Hedgehog in the Fog Quotes | The Two Jakes Quotes | På spåret Quotes | Dante's Inferno (1935 film) Quotes | The Purple Rose of Cairo Quotes |