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My only conclusion about structure is that nothing works if you don't have interesting characters and a good story to tell.

Harold Ramis

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Harold Ramis
Age: 69 †
Born: 1944
Born: November 21
Died: 2014
Died: February 24
Actor
Comedian
Director
Film Actor
Film Director
Film Producer
Screenwriter
Television Actor
Writer
Chicago
Illinois
Harold Allen Ramis
Tell
Stories
Character
Conclusion
Nothing
Structure
Good
Characters
Works
Story
Interesting

More quotes by Harold Ramis

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If you're doing six takes, instead of doing six variations on the same words, why not just throw out the words and make them up as you go along, if you're comfortable with it? It gives the movies a slightly rangier feeling, and more of an accidental feel, but it also makes them edgier.
Harold Ramis
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I did a comedy with Al Franken about his character Stuart Smalley, which was really about alcoholism and addiction and codependency. It had some painful stuff in it. When we showed it to focus groups, some of them actually said, If I want to see a dysfunctional family, I'll stay home.
Harold Ramis
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I'd rather do comedies that strike at some bigger ideas.
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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
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Just expressing contempt for your leaders doesn't really accomplish anything.
Harold Ramis
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No matter what I have to say, I'm still trying to say it in comedic form.
Harold Ramis
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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
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When I've written for Bill Murray - I've written six films for him - people would read it and say, Oh, that's so perfectly Bill. He'd read it and say, Are you kidding? I can't say these words. So it's all about perception.
Harold Ramis
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I'm sure that the liability for doing a tracheotomy would be tremendous. You make one mistake, and it's over. Most doctors won't even do it.
Harold Ramis
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You can't love somebody into a state of mental health.
Harold Ramis
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Most people live somewhere on the spectrum of anxiety and depression.
Harold Ramis
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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
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When you're a big enough part of the process that the Writers Guild gives you a lot of credit, that's a good thing. It tells me that I've had a significant impact on the film as a writer.
Harold Ramis
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I was the little guy who knew how to tie a necktie. It came from having absentee parents. They were tremendously loving and caring people who, by circumstance, had to go to work.
Harold Ramis
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When a director writes, there's a compulsory arbitration. You have a right to challenge any of the arbitrators, but they pick three of four arbitrators who read all the drafts with no names attached and then allocate credit.
Harold Ramis
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Some people have a fear of rejecting all the security that comes with family, church and state. They become fundamentalists.
Harold Ramis
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When you're young and you first see the extent and depth of the world's hypocrisy, it's fun to go after it. But by the time you're sixty, it's so commonplace. What's the point in ridiculing people anymore? Their existence itself is a sort of sick joke.
Harold Ramis
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No one will laugh at how great things are for somebody.
Harold Ramis
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Whenever a critic mentions the salary of an actor, I'm thinking, He's not talking about the movie.
Harold Ramis
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It doesn't take any longer to improvise 10 takes than it takes to shoot 10 takes of the same thing. It turns out to be just as responsible from a business point of view as anything else.
Harold Ramis