Never hit anyone in anger, unless you're absolutely sure you can get away with it. Harold Ramis More Quotes by Harold Ramis More Quotes From Harold Ramis A psychologist said to me, there are only two important questions you have to ask yourself. What do you really feel? And, what do you really want? If you can answer those two, you probably can leave your neuroses behind you. Harold Ramis important fun two No matter what I have to say, I'm still trying to say it in comedic form. Harold Ramis form matter trying Acting is all about big hair and funny props... All the great actors knew it. Olivier knew it, Brando knew it. Harold Ramis actors acting hair As much as I liked acting for its playfulness and the reward of hearing big laughs wash over you on a stage, I always felt I should do something that I could control. Harold Ramis acting over-you laughing I'd rather do comedies that strike at some bigger ideas. Harold Ramis comedy bigger ideas We tell our kids that policemen are good and God protects us and our country is noble, and at a certain point - and for some it comes quite early, five or six years old - we start to realize that it's all a facade. Harold Ramis country kids years I have a great respect for the moviegoing experience. It's such a unique thing. You're not getting up and walking around the house or flipping channels during the dull parts. You're in a dark space, and the movie fills most of your field of vision. You're surrounded by sound, and the colors are deeply saturated, and faces are fifteen feet high. If it's done well, you're really going to feel some big emotions or have some big belly laughs. Harold Ramis color unique dark Stand-up is every man for himself; you learn from hanging out at these clubs and watching other guys, and then trying not to be like them. Harold Ramis guy trying men Films are big hits when they touch a lot of people. Things are not funny in a vacuum, they're funny because we respond to some personal dislocation, some embarrassment, some humiliation, some pain we've suffered, or some desire we have. Harold Ramis pain desire people There's a personal story of my own that I will write at some point, and it's a film that I will happily make. It could very well be the next thing I do, unless someone shows me something great. Harold Ramis next stories writing I made a handshake agreement with my best friend in college, Michael Shamberg, who is now a movie producer. We used to write shows together, and we said, "Let's only do what's fun. Let's never take a job where we have to dress up in a suit." Harold Ramis writing fun jobs A friend of mine is trying to do a documentary where he brings Jewish and Arab comedians to occupied territories in Israel. He wants to do shows as a way of finding some comedic common denominator. When he proposed the idea to one of the officials at the Jenin refuge camp, the guy just stared at him and said, "This is not a joke to us. We don't think that laughing is the answer." Harold Ramis israel ideas thinking I'd like to think I'd never do a gratuitous fart joke. Harold Ramis fart jokes thinking Chicago still remains a Mecca of the Midwest - people from both coasts are kind of amazed how good life is in Chicago, and what a good culture we've got. You can have a pretty wonderful artistic life and never leave Chicago. Harold Ramis artistic-life good-life people The first comedy screenplay that I wrote was Animal House and I always thought I could and should be a director but no one was about to give me that opportunity on Animal House. Harold Ramis opportunity animal giving Once you're alienated, you're on your own. That takes you to the world of the existential, where things just kind of float. Harold Ramis existential kind world I have no trouble selling out—I’m a benevolent hack, in a certain way—but I want to pander for something I believe in. Harold Ramis want believe way No one will laugh at how great things are for somebody. Harold Ramis great-things laughing If Chevy Chase had not been an actor, he might have been a very popular guy in advertising or whatever field he would have gone into, because of his charisma. Harold Ramis guy actors might Some people have a fear of rejecting all the security that comes with family, church and state. They become fundamentalists. Harold Ramis states church people
