In my mind, if you went back to the Middle Ages, in Italy they'd be speaking Middle Age Italian. And at that point, it would obviously be indecipherable for us, but for the people of that time, it was just normal talking. Jeff Baena More Quotes by Jeff Baena More Quotes From Jeff Baena I had an approach where everything that's happening it should be as though it's an experience for somebody. So if you're experiencing a hurricane, if you're experiencing a car crash or whatever it is, you're only experiencing as yourself, you're not experiencing it from some objective point of view. Jeff Baena hurricanes car views If you're playing things sincere in a really absurd, heightened situation, you'll achieve comedy as opposed to just saying funny lines and one-liners and stuff. Jeff Baena comedy lines stuff When you are a writer the assist-to-turnover ratio...there are a lot more turnovers than assists. It's just the nature of the beast. Jeff Baena turnover ratios beast My intention was always to direct and writing things just became convenient and happened. Jeff Baena convenient intention writing In Judaism, the temple was the most holy site in the world. But if you extend that argument as a metaphor, and you say 'The world is a holy place,' and you're treating this holy place like a money-lending psycho, then Jesus says, 'This is hypocrisy!' and he'd point it out and flip it over. Jeff Baena temple place you world If something's really selfless, then there's really no value in it for you... there's only value in it for the world. Jeff Baena value you selfless world I am interested in all aspects of filmmaking, so I have an opinion on every aspect, so sound design, score, cinematography, editing - all that stuff I have experience doing myself, so I had a very strong idea of what I wanted, and I got, for the most part, people that were able to articulate that idea, which was nice. Jeff Baena i-am myself experience people 'Motherwort.' 'Great Leopard's Bane.' These are awesome band names. Jeff Baena leopard awesome great band I grew up in suburbia, so it's a world I'm familiar with... but in my experience, all the families that I grew up thinking were the perfect families who kept it together... all their secrets would come out, and it'd be something dark and disgusting beneath the surface, so I wanted to exploit that. Jeff Baena experience together world thinking After doing 'Life After Beth,' which I think had one line that wasn't scripted, everything was scripted so that it sounds natural, and I went to such great lengths to create dialogue and to come across the way that people wouldn't sound like they were on the nose. Jeff Baena great think life people I think there are a lot of actors who are excellent at cold reads, and they go to an audition, and they read the part and nail it, but then when it comes to the performance, they don't have something. Jeff Baena performance go think cold I like collaborating with actors. I love finding that moment where it all comes together. Jeff Baena finding moment together love Comedy is all about rhythm and context, and there's all types of comedies, and it's about finding that right brand, that consistency in tone. Jeff Baena brand finding consistency comedy Everything kind of has a message in it. Jeff Baena message everything kind When people are committed to things, and the world view they have is no longer in alignment with our world view, then it becomes funny. Jeff Baena view funny people world Not to be negative, but I think the biggest lesson is don't trust anyone. Jeff Baena lesson think trust negative I went to film school; I went to NYU film school. Jeff Baena nyu film-school film school I usually just do, like, studio jobs, re-writes and stuff. Jeff Baena studio just like stuff It's so rare when marketing and press doesn't ruin your movie. Jeff Baena ruin rare your marketing I don't try to make actors play crazy characters. I like where there's a certain element of who they are and truth to their performances. Jeff Baena try crazy truth play
