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 LEVINSONEven 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.
More Barry Levinson Quotes
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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 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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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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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’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.
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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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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 test screening works at its best when the audience knows what it’s getting.
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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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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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There’s no downside to having too much experience.
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I got a chance to work with Mel Brooks on two of his films: Silent Movie and High Anxiety.
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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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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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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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A lot of time mistakes are very interesting – you look for the behaviour that’s not the one you expect.
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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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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 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.
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They’re intimidating the networks and levying these fines, so the networks are not sure of what they can or can’t do.
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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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It’s always hard to explain why an audience ultimately responds to a movie.
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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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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.
BARRY LEVINSON