I'm emotionally invested in every movie that I do, period, because you've got to make that commitment. You're spending a year, 18 months of your life doing it. I'm invested in all those kinds of pieces. Most of the films I've had in my career have never tested well. I got lucky that sometimes I got supported by studios - or, at least if not supported, tolerated.

Barry Levinson

Categorized in : Commitment Kind Lucky

There's no downside to having too much experience.

Barry Levinson

too-much

When I was growing up in Baltimore, the Colts were not just a team that played in the city. It was part of the city. Football players didn't make close to the money they make today and most took jobs in the off-season. Some were mechanics, others worked at furniture stores, and you could find them drinking at a neighborhood watering hole.

Barry Levinson

growing-up jobs football

A lot of time mistakes are very interesting - you look for the behaviour that's not the one you expect.

Barry Levinson

mistake looks interesting

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

Barry Levinson

audience 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

succeed magic thinking

You don't always have to have the ending, but you want to have a satisfactory conclusion.

Barry Levinson

conclusion want

Some actors are supposed to be very difficult, but I've not found that to be the situation.

Barry Levinson

difficult actors found

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.

Barry Levinson

legendary producers creative

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

intimidation fine intimidating

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-up ideas thinking

I got a chance to work with Mel Brooks on two of his films: Silent Movie and High Anxiety.

Barry Levinson

anxiety chance two

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.

Barry Levinson

satire thinking

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.

Barry Levinson

house hands television

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

memorable way interesting

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 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

Craig Nelson who is an actor and is in a show called Coach in the United States. We began to do some improvisational stuff and we used to get laughs and things.

Barry Levinson

united-states actors laughing

You have a movie and it proves itself and then certain things happen.

Barry Levinson

prove-it certain happens

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 writing television

I play around with human things, human relationships and that, and allow that kind of talk to work in that way, on that level.

Barry Levinson

human-relationships human-relations kind