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.
BARRY LEVINSONYou do understand that you can’t force the situation, but in terms of how you edit, you can define that to take the audience along, whether it be a storyline or a character moment that we can play out. The more experience you’ve had, the more beneficial it is, period.
More Barry Levinson Quotes
-
-
You don’t always have to have the ending, but you want to have a satisfactory conclusion.
BARRY LEVINSON -
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.
BARRY LEVINSON -
They’re intimidating the networks and levying these fines, so the networks are not sure of what they can or can’t do.
BARRY LEVINSON -
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.
BARRY LEVINSON -
It’s always hard to explain why an audience ultimately responds to a movie.
BARRY LEVINSON -
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 -
I got involved with an acting school and studied for a couple years. They used to have improv exercises that you would work on and you would do improvs.
BARRY LEVINSON -
I thought a great line in the What Just Happened movie said, “We’re just the mayonnaise.”
BARRY LEVINSON -
I’ve had a lot of movies that didn’t get great numbers on test screening, but a lot of times the film was able to survive, or the studio still stayed and supported it.
BARRY LEVINSON -
Some actors are supposed to be very difficult, but I’ve not found that to be the situation.
BARRY LEVINSON -
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.
BARRY LEVINSON -
You do understand that you can’t force the situation, but in terms of how you edit, you can define that to take the audience along, whether it be a storyline or a character moment that we can play out. The more experience you’ve had, the more beneficial it is, period.
BARRY LEVINSON -
As soon as digital editing came about, I immediately made the switch to digital.
BARRY LEVINSON -
I always think that there is the good and the bad of it all.
BARRY LEVINSON -
I play around with human things, human relationships and that, and allow that kind of talk to work in that way, on that level.
BARRY LEVINSON -
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.
BARRY LEVINSON -
The interesting thing about movies, it’s not always – y’know, you have to have structure etc and all those things, but an audience responds, in many ways, we walk away and certain things stay in our heads that are memorable.
BARRY LEVINSON -
I think it’s a promising time which will show a lot of diversification that we’ve seen in the past.
BARRY LEVINSON -
There’s no downside to having too much experience.
BARRY LEVINSON -
I got a chance to work with Mel Brooks on two of his films: Silent Movie and High Anxiety.
BARRY LEVINSON -
I do know when you look at some ballplayer and all of a sudden he is the size of a truck something is wrong.
BARRY LEVINSON -
You have a movie and it proves itself and then certain things happen.
BARRY LEVINSON -
I think test screening works at its best when the audience knows what it’s getting.
BARRY LEVINSON -
No one really has the power, and everybody’s trying to get through the day, and everybody’s nervous and desperate.
BARRY LEVINSON -
First of all, just to get Diner made would have been an achievement in that I got a chance to direct.
BARRY LEVINSON -
I think certain movies work and that is part of the magic of it all. We can’t truly define why something succeeds.
BARRY LEVINSON