I don’t know that you can do an absurdist film and just have everybody embrace it in terms of filling out cards. I just don’t think it happens. So you have to prepare an audience.
BARRY LEVINSONI never really wanted to be an actor. And that was the beginning of it, I began to write things down and eventually became a writer on a television show.
More Barry Levinson Quotes
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I think when Sarah Palin opened her mouth and started talking, the more she talked, the less appealing she became.
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Even back in the ’90s, I shot certain things on something that wasn’t digital then, but it was on VHS with a smaller camera and we would up it to film.
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You have a movie and it proves itself and then certain things happen.
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All I try to do is create an atmosphere that seems comfortable enough, that it removes tension and everyone feels free. If they feel free then behaviour happens, small moments happen and that’s what ultimately works the best for me.
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I worked at a local television station and I got a chance to direct and do all those things – worked kiddie shows, Ranger House show with the hand puppets and things like that.
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I think test screening works at its best when the audience knows what it’s getting.
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There’s no downside to having too much experience.
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It’s always hard to explain why an audience ultimately responds to a movie.
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I think it’s a promising time which will show a lot of diversification that we’ve seen in the past.
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Craig Nelson who is an actor and is in a show called Coach in the United States. We began to do some improvisational stuff and we used to get laughs and things.
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I never really wanted to be an actor. And that was the beginning of it, I began to write things down and eventually became a writer on a television show.
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I think we are seeing a radical shift in the business in general. The studios are making much more of the real big extravaganzas and there are other kinds of films that are coming out. I think you are going to begin to see more diversification that we’ve seen in the past.
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I’m fascinated by documentaries, to begin with. Because of the nature of television, as opposed to theatrical, documentaries can be in this long form and take you on a journey.
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I thought a great line in the What Just Happened movie said, “We’re just the mayonnaise.”
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Ronald Reagan was this actor who was going to be president, and he was very charming. What he had was, he talked about America in ways that got people all caught up in it. He was creating this America – it could even be the mythical “America” – that we subscribe to.
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As soon as digital editing came about, I immediately made the switch to digital.
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I don’t know that you can do it as a satire. I mean, the business is crazy enough as it is. It’s like doing Wag The Dog – we took a thing that was almost completely absurd on one level, and then ultimately those things came about.
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A lot of time mistakes are very interesting – you look for the behaviour that’s not the one you expect.
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There was a time when I said, “I’m going to go do a television thing,” after doing all these theatrical films, and heard, “Television? Why are you going to go back to television?” It’s an interesting place.
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I play around with human things, human relationships and that, and allow that kind of talk to work in that way, on that level.
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I would give the cameras to the kids in the swimming pools and they would play with them, and then I would collect them and we would upload it. If you’re in the process, you’re there.
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I always think that there is the good and the bad of it all.
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No one really has the power, and everybody’s trying to get through the day, and everybody’s nervous and desperate.
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We’re never going to be the ultimate-insider look. You can do 50 insider looks at this Hollywood business, and the satire didn’t intrigue me. I think others can do that.
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Some actors are supposed to be very difficult, but I’ve not found that to be the situation.
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When I began to think about the head of the family, the storyteller, the rise of television which became the new storyteller, the break-up of the American family as an idea and then Avalon came.
BARRY LEVINSON