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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

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Barry Levinson
Age: 82
Born: 1942
Born: April 6
Actor
Film Director
Film Producer
Screenwriter
Baltimore
Maryland
Really
Writer
Things
Television
Never
Actors
Comeback
Show
Eventually
Write
Began
Shows
Became
Wanted
Beginning
Writing
Actor

More quotes by Barry Levinson

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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
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There was a time when I said, I'm going to go do a television thing, after doing all these theatrical films, and heard, Television? Why are you going to go back to television? It's an interesting place.
Barry Levinson
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Ronald Reagan was this actor who was going to be president, and he was very charming. What he had was, he talked about America in ways that got people all caught up in it. He was creating this America - it could even be the mythical America - that we subscribe to.
Barry Levinson
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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
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You have a movie and it proves itself and then certain things happen.
Barry Levinson
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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
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You don't always have to have the ending, but you want to have a satisfactory conclusion.
Barry Levinson
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I think when Sarah Palin opened her mouth and started talking, the more she talked, the less appealing she became.
Barry Levinson
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No one really has the power, and everybody's trying to get through the day, and everybody's nervous and desperate.
Barry Levinson
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I thought a great line in the What Just Happened movie said, We're just the mayonnaise.
Barry Levinson
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All I try to do is create an atmosphere that seems comfortable enough, that it removes tension and everyone feels free. If they feel free then behaviour happens, small moments happen and that's what ultimately works the best for me.
Barry Levinson
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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
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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
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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.
Barry Levinson
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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
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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
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It's always hard to explain why an audience ultimately responds to a movie.
Barry Levinson
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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.
Barry Levinson
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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.
Barry Levinson
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I think test screening works at its best when the audience knows what it's getting.
Barry Levinson