Two-thirds of American movies are extensions of commercials -- they tell you how to feel and they tell you how to think -- rather than letting you figure it out on your own. Alan Arkin More Quotes by Alan Arkin More Quotes From Alan Arkin I know that if I can't move people, then I have no business being an actor. Alan Arkin actors people moving Truth is always unfolding. It's not an absolute. Alan Arkin unfolding absolutes truth It's murder to doubt yourself in life. It took until I was 45 to get to that point. As hard as it is in your work, it's harder in your life. But it can be done. Alan Arkin murder done doubt I used to watch the world as if it was a performance and I would realize that certain things that people did moved me, and certain things didn't move me, and I tried to analyze, even at that age, six and seven and eight, why I was moved by certain things they did Alan Arkin eight people moving I don't believe there's anything in life you can't go back and fix. The ancient Vedas - the oldest Hindu philosophy - and modern science agree that time is an illusion. If that's true, there's no such thing as a past or a future - it's all one huge now. So what you fix now affects the past and the future. Alan Arkin philosophy believe past That's what we're all doing, all the time, whether we know it or not. Whether we like it or not. Creating something on the spur of the moment with the materials at hand. We might just as well let the rest of it go, join the party, and dance our hearts out. Alan Arkin party heart hands I don't believe in competitions between artists. This is insane. Who has the authority to say someone is better? Alan Arkin competition artist believe Marriage requires searing honesty at all costs. I learned that from my third wife. Alan Arkin boyfriend honesty relationship But one of the things I learned from improvising is that all of life is an improvisation, whether you like it or not. Some of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 20th century came out of people dropping things. Alan Arkin life-is discovery people I don't love the business. I never wanted to be a part of it. I don't think any actor does. Most of the time, I've been really fortunate to work with people who are really fun to work with. It doesn't mean we don't take it seriously, but no one is under the delusion (that we're) bringing world peace. Alan Arkin fun mean thinking You can begin to see an amalgamation of cultures, the real beginning of one world. Ten years ago, it would have been impossible to imagine a Cockney singing group with a Southern Negro style and Indian and electronic music. I wonder if people have even noticed what a tremendous cultural signal the Beatles are. Alan Arkin real people years There's a familiarity that sometimes shocks and annoys the hell out of me. People want a relationship with you that they haven't earned. Alan Arkin want sometimes people [The business is] more corporate and more formulaic and less experiential. Alan Arkin corporate If you want to be an actor and you love acting, you can do it whether you're doing something else or not. You can be connected with community theater or make your own little movies. But, if you want to be a movie star, you've got a tough road ahead of you. Alan Arkin community acting stars I've always considered myself an actor, but I wasn't making a living as an actor. Alan Arkin making-a-living burritos actors Things are never going to turn out how you think they will. Alan Arkin turns thinking 'Catch-22' was a huge failure, and it rubbed off on everybody connected to it. I had a bunch of lean years where I had to do things, a lot of which I wasn't wildly enthusiastic about. Alan Arkin enthusiastic bunch years My favorite kind of film is serious comedy. Comedy with serious underpinning. Alan Arkin comedy serious kind I don't live in L.A. on purpose because I don't wanna be immersed in that. I have to have a real life, with real people, in order to inform what I'm doing; otherwise, it just becomes the snake eating its own tail. Vampirism. Alan Arkin snakes real order I had a hard time treating my field as if it’s horse racing, putting actors in competition against each other. I see how the industry and the studios feel it’s important, but I don’t really have a feeling for being in competition. I want to feel sympathetic and close to others, not opposed to them. Alan Arkin horse competition hard-times
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