The Shape of Water (2017)

Octavia Spencer: Zelda Fuller

Photos 

Quotes 

• Strickland : [to Elisa]  What'd you say to me?

  Elisa : [in sign language]  F - U - C - K

  Strickland : What is she saying?

  Elisa : Y - O - U

  Zelda : Uh, I, I didn't catch it.

  Strickland : [kicks the desk; pointing at Elisa]  WHAT IS SHE SAYING?

  Zelda : She, she is sayin' "Thank you"!

• Zelda : Man is as silent as the grave. But if farts were flattery? Honey, he'd be Shakespeare.

• Zelda : Some of the best minds in the country peein' all over the floor in this here facility.

• Zelda : [Elisa looks noticeably happier]  Why you smilin', hon? Well stop lookin' like that. What happened?

  [Elisa shakes her head to say "nothing"] 

  Zelda : Why? How? How? Does he - have a...?

  [Elisa nods and uses her hands to describe what the Amphibian Man's penis looks like] 

  Zelda : Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

  [pause] 

  Zelda : Lor'...! Never trust a man. Even when he looks flat down there.

  [laughs] 

• Zelda : [to Elisa]  Oh! Woman, we gon' burn in hell!

• Zelda : Short people are mean. I never met a short man that stays nice all the way through. No sir. Mean little backstabbers, all of 'em. Maybe it's the air down there. Not enough oxygen or somethin'.

• Zelda : [to Elisa]  Yeah. That's good. Keep that up. Lookin' like you don't know anything.

• Zelda : Elisa honey, make a sound on the phone if you can hear.

  [Elisa taps on the receiver] 

  Zelda : OK, good. He's comin' for you. You gotta go now and you gotta take that thing with ya.

• Zelda : [commenting on Elisa's demeanor]  Yeah. That's good. Keep that up. Lookin' like you don't know anything. Lord help me if they ask me if I do! I'm not a good liar. Except Brewster. It takes a lotta lies to keep a marriage goin'.

• Strickland : [to Zelda and Elisa]  Let me say this up front: You clean that lab, you get out. The thing we keep in there is an affront. Do you know what an affront is, Zelda?

  Zelda : Something offensive?

  Strickland : That's right. And I should know, I dragged that... filthy thing... out of the river muck in South America all the way here. And along the way we didn't get to like each other much. Now. You may think, "That thing looks human." Stands on two legs, right? But - we're created in the Lord's image. You don't think that's what the Lord looks like, do you?

• Zelda : [after questioning Elisa about her evening]  Lor'...! Never trust a man. Even when he looks flat down there.

• Zelda : [cleaning the men's room]  There's pee freckles on the ceiling now! How'd they get it up there? Just how big a target do they need, you figure? They get enough practice, that's for sure.

• Hoffstetler : When will you release him?

  Zelda : [interpreting Elisa]  Soon. When the rain fills the canal that flows to the sea.

  [Elisa nods] 

• Zelda : Don't do this, Elisa. Don't do this!

• Strickland : But we're created in the Lord's image. You don't think that's what the Lord looks like, do you?

  Zelda : I wouldn't know, sir, what the Lord looks like.

  Strickland : Well, it's human, Zelda. He looks like a human, like me. Or even you. Maybe a little more like me, I guess.

• Duane : Hey, Zelda, want a smoke?

  Zelda : That shit ain't good for you, Duane.

  Duane : Yeah, but it feel good.

  Zelda : It does, doesn't it?