Michael Jackson wanted to be in Men in Black II. He told me he had seen the first Men in Black in Paris and had stayed behind and sat there and wept.
BARRY SONNENFELDThere is something about being a director where, for me personally, I get to . . . it’s the closest I’ll ever come to being able to be a stand up.
More Barry Sonnenfeld Quotes
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There is something about being a director where, for me personally, I get to . . . it’s the closest I’ll ever come to being able to be a stand up.
BARRY SONNENFELD -
By definition a sequel can’t be original. So you’ve got to figure out what worked the first time around.
BARRY SONNENFELD -
These movies are like my kids. I just love them to death. Some of them go to Harvard and some of them can barely graduate high school.
BARRY SONNENFELD -
The weird thing is that I hate to fly, and the quote that I give people is that every time I get off a plane, I view it as a failed suicide attempt.
BARRY SONNENFELD -
We should all relax about life because you don’t have a clue as to what’s really going on.
BARRY SONNENFELD -
Michael worked one day. Everybody was a little freaked out and nervous because he’s a really big star. We were already working with really big stars, but Michael is Michael.
BARRY SONNENFELD -
The first cut I do is usually between five and 10 minutes shorter then the cut that we release.
BARRY SONNENFELD -
It felt scary because there was no auditioning, no rehearsing.
BARRY SONNENFELD -
And my feeling was if I was going to succeed as a director, I had to just be a director and give up the safety net of being a cameraman.
BARRY SONNENFELD -
And then through editing, and finishing the effects and adding music, you get to make the movie better again. So I’m really hard on myself and on the movie.
BARRY SONNENFELD -
I don’t believe in leaving a scene in because it was really hard to shoot, or because it’s the reason you took the movie, or because you always wanted to work with an actor . . . If it’s not making the movie work, get rid of it.
BARRY SONNENFELD -
They want to let the audience figure things out and let the reaction shot get the laugh.
BARRY SONNENFELD -
When you’re done shooting, the movie that you’re going to release when you’re done shooting is as bad as it will ever be.
BARRY SONNENFELD -
Anything I think isn’t working or might not work, I don’t even put it in the director’s cut. And usually it’s the studio suggesting I put stuff back in, as opposed to studios saying, “You got to lose 40 minutes,” they are always saying, “You’ve got to gain five minutes.”
BARRY SONNENFELD -
When I move from being a cameraman to being a director I looked at a lot of other cameramen who tried to make the move. And in each case they moved up their camera operator to be the DP, which really meant they didn’t want to give up being the DP, and really wanted to do both.
BARRY SONNENFELD