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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.

Barry Levinson

I think test screening works at its best when the audience knows what it’s getting.
BARRY LEVINSON

Audience Screening Test Thinking
I think when Sarah Palin opened her mouth and started talking, the more she talked, the less appealing she became.
BARRY LEVINSON

Appeal Palin Start Talk Thinking
A lot of time mistakes are very interesting – you look for the behaviour that’s not the one you expect.
BARRY LEVINSON

Interesting Looks Mistake
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 LEVINSON

Actors And Television Began Eventually Thing Writing
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

Fine Intimidation Network Sure
I thought a great line in the What Just Happened movie said, “We’re just the mayonnaise.”
BARRY LEVINSON

Happened Line Mayonnaise Movie Thought
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 LEVINSON

Embrace Film Thinking
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

Film Movie Number Screening Survive Time
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

Character Moments Play
No one really has the power, and everybody’s trying to get through the day, and everybody’s nervous and desperate.
BARRY LEVINSON

Desperate Nervous Trying
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

Looks Size Truck Wrong
I think it’s a promising time which will show a lot of diversification that we’ve seen in the past.
BARRY LEVINSON

Past Shows Thinking
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.
BARRY LEVINSON

Documentary Fascinate Journey Long
You don’t always have to have the ending, but you want to have a satisfactory conclusion.
BARRY LEVINSON

Conclusion Satisfactory Want
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

Crazy Dog Mean
There’s no downside to having too much experience.
BARRY LEVINSON

Downside Experience Much Too
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.
BARRY LEVINSON

Atmosphere Behavior Trying
First of all, just to get Diner made would have been an achievement in that I got a chance to direct.
BARRY LEVINSON

Achievement First
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 LEVINSON

Charming People President
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

Couple Exercise School
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.
BARRY LEVINSON

Past Real Thinking
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

Magic Succeed Thinking
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

Break Idea Thinking Up
As soon as digital editing came about, I immediately made the switch to digital.
BARRY LEVINSON

Digital Editing Made
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.
BARRY LEVINSON

Camera Digital Film
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

Interesting Memorable Way
You have a movie and it proves itself and then certain things happen.
BARRY LEVINSON

Certain Happens Proven

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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Popular Authors

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.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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