List of Barry Levinson Quotes

Creative Differences Are Legendary In This Movie Business, So We're Really Not Exploring The Creative-difference Aspect As Opposed To The Money Aspect, Or The Fact That Something Can Come Up In A Movie And Literally Put The Whole Movie On The Line, And This Is Where Producers Have To Earn Their Keep.

I Don't Know What Bruce Willis Has Done In Real Life. We Know Actors Have Certainly Had Tirades - That's For Sure. I Never Had Troubles With Him, But The Big Issue Is Really Less About What Bruce Is, As Opposed To - This Behavior Has Taken Place, And Sometimes It Came Out At Something That Had Credibility, As Opposed To, "no, I Want To Be Fat And Have A Beard." Other People Say, "i Don't Give A Damn About The Credibility. I Paid $20 Million. I Want To See A Movie Star."

If You Test Iron Man And That Audience Doesn't Respond Well, You Can Be Damn Sure That There Is Something Wrong With The Movie That You Have To Address. Because They're Expecting A Certain Amount Of Action, Right? They Want A Hero. There Are Certain Things That Have To Be Compatible With The Way The Audience Is Thinking About It. If You Take Some Other Film, Like No Country For Old Men, You Can End Up With All Kinds Of Crazy Reactions.

Different Reactions While Film Test Screening Doesn't Mean Even The Audience Thinks Ambiguity Is A Bad Thing. But If You're Asking Them Right Away To Start Checking Things Off, They Don't Know What To Do. I Think At Their Best, It Applies To When The Audience Knows What It Is. Then, When They Say, "oh, Well, I Thought It Was Too Boring In Blah-blah-blah Part," Then You Better Pay Attention To It. It's Like Going For The Hamburger. Better Be The Good Hamburger I Went For.

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.

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.

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.

It's Such A Funny Thing. Hollywood Is Terrible Unless You Happen To Be A Celebrity Who's A Republican. So Ronald Reagan Can Be A Hollywood Celebrity, And He's A Republican, And Then He Can Become The President, And That's Okay. Fred Thomson, Well, That's Okay. But The Rest We Need To Demonize. There's No Consistency.

A Lot Of People Have Done Things Over The Years And Made Fun Of People In One Way Or Another. When I Was A Kid, Vaughn Meader Used To Do John F. Kennedy. I Don't Know If That Makes John F. Kennedy Less Credible. He Would Do The Voice, He'd Have Some Silly Situations Or Whatever. I Don't Know If It Made Him Less Presidential Because Of It.

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.

Sarah Palin Kept Talking And Talking, And The More She Talks, The Less Compelling She Can Be. People Say, "she's A Very Good Politician, Very Deft At What She Does," And Whatever. And I Hear That Sometimes And Go, "i Don't Know Much About This Stuff, But I Would Say No." Because The Really Good Politician Expands The Audience, Not Contracts It. She May Be Getting A Very Vocal Crowd, But It's A Very Specific Group.

I Don't See Sarah Palin Suddenly Spilling Over To A Wider Group Where Suddenly They Go, "wait A Minute, I've Heard Her Message, And Now I'm Beginning..." It's Not Expanding It. A Politician That Doesn't Expand From The Base Is Not A Good Politician. So I Disagree With All The Talking Heads That Go "well, She's A Very Good Politician." She's Not! Good Politicians Expand, And She Doesn't.