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.
BARRY LEVINSONAll 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.
More Barry Levinson Quotes
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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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Studios just sometimes make decisions on their own that you’re always flabbergasted by. It just happens that way for whatever reason – not even pointing fingers, it just is.
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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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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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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 thought a great line in the What Just Happened movie said, “We’re just the mayonnaise.”
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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 think it’s a promising time which will show a lot of diversification that we’ve seen in the past.
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There’s no downside to having too much experience.
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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.
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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 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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I do know when you look at some ballplayer and all of a sudden he is the size of a truck something is wrong.
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First of all, just to get Diner made would have been an achievement in that I got a chance to direct.
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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 think test screening works at its best when the audience knows what it’s getting.
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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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It’s always hard to explain why an audience ultimately responds to a movie.
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As soon as digital editing came about, I immediately made the switch to digital.
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You have a movie and it proves itself and then certain things happen.
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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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I think certain movies work and that is part of the magic of it all. We can’t truly define why something succeeds.
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I always think that there is the good and the bad of it all.
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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.
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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