It’s one thing to mess stuff up and break stuff, but [Borat] is really pointing out the ideology of America.
ADAM MCKAYI don’t want to speak for my movies; you could say my movies are just completely silly and dumb, but in the case of ‘Idiocracy’ and ‘Borat,’ without a doubt there is a really subversive and sophisticated assault on American culture.
More Adam McKay Quotes
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For a documentary it’s so important to find the characters and to find people who will give you access to film
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Benito Mussolini created the word ‘fascism.’ He defined it as ‘the merging of the state and the corporation.’ He also said a more accurate word would be ‘corporatism.’
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I don’t think there’s ever been a moment in history where that, as an artistic message, has played very well, because people in their hearts know that’s terrible and a lie.
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In general foreign invested companies who come to America to start a company, to open a manufacturing business or whatnot, they actually provide much higher wages than American companies.
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In general, the final filter of Hollywood is for-profit. Nothing goes through unless it can make money.
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“Firewall” seems both scary and protective at the same time. And how often does that happen within one word besides “military” and “government?”
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I think American culture had just become so disengaged from the process of government, and we’d been so fuzzed out by our pop culture around us, that I don’t think people really saw this guy for what he was.
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So you’re doing that the first two or three screenings, and then finally, you dial the movie in and it’s working, and at that point, it’s 50/50 as far as what’s funny and what’s working.
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Hardly socialism. In fact, it was a Republican plan to begin with.
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I’m just a giant film fan, so I love action movies out of all kinds of movies. As a film geek, it’s amazing to be able to shoot this stuff.
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It so happens that America, according to all the polls that are out there, is pretty progressive. So you’re not going to see messages that support Ayn Randian individualism at the cost of the whole, because most people don’t agree with that.
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I think what’s dangerous [about comedy] is that you’re coming into the room announcing your intentions.
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The crush of lobbyists on Washington and purchase of the media by corporations has created a big business-run government and a worthless press leaving Americans screwed and ill-informed.
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We punch mirrors and we explore our darker selves. No, it’s just an amalgam of all newscasters that we grew up with. Sort of like before there was cable, when these people were like gods.
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It’s one thing to break stuff and damage people’s possessions, but when you start aiming at the ideology of America, that’s dangerous comedy.
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If all else fails, you can always be a pro.
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Dave Herman as Michael Bolton is one of my favorite performances ever.
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There’s nothing the people love more than a Federal Reserve joke.
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For my money, I don’t think there’s been a better comedy than ‘Kung Fu Hustle’ in a lot of years. That movie just knocked me over.
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The easiest time to be funny is during a fairly serious situation. That way you can break the ice.
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All you can really do as director is sort of set a tone.
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I have certain beliefs about how people should treat employees and how companies should be run, but I was really surprised though this process to learn that those beliefs are actually good business.
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There’s always way less improv than people think. The truth is something like 15 percent.
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Can anything good come of a backward way of thinking like judging someone based on skin color? No way.
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I could see how people get addicted to animation, and I understand why it’s so great for comedy. You can do whatever you want and it just happens.
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There’s such an aggressively a political movement in the US that anything that smells of being political – even the term “political” is so ridiculous, when you think about it.
ADAM MCKAY