Rob Reiner
The idea of playing a part where I get to wear a completely undetectable hairpiece... you can't walk away from that.Collection: Ideas
I guess as I get older, I'm kind of getting drawn to the things that I really love the most, which is trying to figure out ways of blending politics with humor, and making it interesting. So I don't know if anybody's interested in this stuff, but I like it, so I get involved with it.Collection: Interesting
Albert [Brooks] was rare in that he could make adults laugh. He was a prodigy. At age 15 and 16, he could make my dad laugh uncontrollably. And whenever we had parties, some of the funniest people of my generation - whether it was Billy Crystal or Robin Williams or John Belushi - would be doing shtick.Collection: Dad
I hate those movies where hundreds of people get blown up and there are jokes afterward. They poison the soul.Collection: Hate
Pretty much anything you laughed at in the second half of the 20th century can be traced back to Your Show Of Shows.Collection: Half
I'm a huge fan of Jonathan Winters. He's influenced everyone who's ever done improvisational comedy. You look to Jonathan Winters for inspiration. He paved the way.Collection: Inspiration
The script is like music to me. I approach it like it's a musical piece and I hear how it's supposed to sound when people say the words. There's rhythms and there's intonations and things, and so, when somebody comes in and hits the notes that I hear, I go okay. Or, they come close enough, and then I'll say "Well how about you try it like this?" and if they have a good ear and they can pick it up, then I think okay, they've got it.Collection: Thinking
Women are more in touch with their feelings, they're more emotionally developed, they know what's important in life, and the men run around like idiots trying to figure that out until they meet a woman that can show them what's important.Collection: Running
With someone like Barack Obama, I think the whole America, the whole world will coalesce. Every election is about change, and change takes a long time because there are big issues that can't be changed overnight. But the one thing that will change dramatically is how we're viewed around the world. Once Obama is in there, the world will view Americans in an entirely different light. And that, to me, is a good thing.Collection: Thinking
If you've ever made up something on the spot and made somebody laugh, you can credit Jonathan Winters with inspiration.Collection: Inspiration
Hollywood is one of those places where, traditionally, money has come from - along with New York, Texas, Florida, Silicon Valley in northern California and the unions. But because of the Internet and the way campaigns are financed these days, you don't need traditional financing as much as you used to - and Barack Obama has tapped into that in a big way. But at the end of the day, people in Hollywood care more about [the presidency] than just the trappings of it and the surface type stuff. They care about the issues.Collection: People
TV's great. I think the best stuff is happening on television.Collection: Thinking
I think Jews are the smartest people in the worldCollection: Thinking
For me, if I had all the money in the world, and I could finance my own films, I would do whatever.Collection: World
I'm always running around trying to raise money to make the films. Fortunately, I've been able to do that, but if I can't, at this point, it's not like I wanted to spend a lot of time putting together, you know, you spend a year of your life on something, you go, "What the hell am I doing that for?"Collection: Running
I act once in awhile if something comes up that seems fun. I like to do it - its a lot of fun because theres no responsibility. You let other people have the headaches. The director has all of the headaches.Collection: Fun
I was a kid who was really unhappy with being bussed. I was one of the angry people in the halls.Collection: Kids
I was certainly a child of the '60s, and I came out of that era, and as a young actor, I got cast as a lot of counterculture hippie types.Collection: Children
You never know if anything is going to stand the test of time or going to be successful.Collection: Successful
I was already interested in directing when I was very young. I knew that was something I was going to be doing.Collection: Young
Anytime a movie lasts, it's really a thrill. I mean, that people can still pick up on it, and still enjoy it, that makes you feel great.Collection: Mean
For me, the only type of guilty pleasure fun that I have in terms of my career is I act once in awhile. And I don't have any responsibility.Collection: Fun
Most people are in marriages, and there are very few movies made about what it really is like to be married for a length of time. You always show the romantic part and all that. Or the divorce, and the horrible split, and the guy's having an affair, or she's having an affair, and they're going to get split up, whatever. But very few people just look at what actually happens in a marriage.Collection: Divorce
I think for every parent, they know their kids better than anybody else, and they have to just trust their own instincts.Collection: Kids
I love working with my dad, but I need to be independent and do my own stuff.Collection: Dad
I love thrillers. I've never made them, but I would say a really good thriller is my favorite kind of a movie. If I can get a really great thriller, you know.Collection: Kind
I'm a huge fan of Jonathan Winters. He's influenced everyone who's ever done improvisational comedy. You look to Jonathan Winters for inspiration. He paved the way. If you've ever made up something on the spot and made somebody laugh, you can credit Jonathan Winters with inspiration.Collection: Inspiration
When you do improv, you're everything. You're a performer, writer, and director, because you're moving the scene in the direction you want it to go, you're making it up as you go, and you're acting it. You're all of those things, so I always viewed myself that way. And with the films I've done, I've written on them, I've acted in some of them. And even ones I haven't acted in, I've acted them out just to be sure another actor can do them.Collection: Moving
I make the joke, all the time, that if you have the word "man" and a number in the title, like Batman 2, Spider-Man 2 or Iron Man 12, you'll get it made. The kind of movies I make, studios don't make them. I've made a lot of movies, and at Castle Rock, we've made 125 movies. None of them get made at a studio. I've got to scrounge around for money, every time. I just like to tell stories. I'm a storyteller, so I want the most people to see it.Collection: Men
Usually, I have in mind what I want to do. I shoot pretty economically, so I'm not shooting tons of stuff that I could change, all that much. I'll cut something or add a little something back, but not too much. This is maybe the producer part of me, but I'm always worried about the budget, so I shoot what I know I need to shoot for the film.Collection: Cutting
I think there's great stuff on television. I'm hooked on all these shows. I love watching these shows.Collection: Thinking
The movie studios, they only like to make - I make a joke, but it's true - if the movie has the word "man" and a number in the title, they'll make it. If it doesn't have that, it's an R-rated raunchy comedy, and that's it. Any other movie that you're going to make is going to be an independent one. So for filmmakers who want to do something other than "man" and a number, it's either independent films or television, which is like the place for real creative filmmakers to go.Collection: Real
For the last five, 10 years, you're seeing the best things happen on television.Collection: Years
When you do improv, you're everything. You're a performer, writer, and director, because you're moving the scene in the direction you want it to go, you're making it up as you go, and you're acting it.Collection: Moving
You work with every actor differently. It's like if you're a mother, if you have children, some children need more discipline. Other children you back off of a little bit and let them be. It's the same way with actors. Some actors need a lot of hand holding. Other actors like to be let be and you let them go. Some actors like to be nudged just a little bit. Some actors don't mind line readings.Collection: Mother
Harry [Shearer] and I had an idea to do a movie about rock 'n' roll from the roadies' perspective, from backstage. Then Meat Loaf came out with a movie called Roadie and we thought, "Oh, we can't do that now." So we kind of discarded the idea.Collection: Rocks
I was also a congressman. I had decided to run for office and had become a congressman with Queen Latifah.Collection: Running
I decided to not just be about protesting or speaking out against certain things, but actually trying to get things done. That has been tremendously fulfilling for me.Collection: Trying
It gives you more freedom, the digital camera.Collection: Giving
Usually I don't like to act in movies that I direct because it's kind of confusing.Collection: Confusing
I've known Alan Zweibel since 1975, and I've always had this sneaking suspicion that he might possess a sense of humor. After reading CLOTHING OPTIONAL, I'm almost sure he does.Collection: Reading
Under the current system, all children under 17 are treated equally. However, while some films may be appropriate for older children to see with parental accompaniment, some are inappropriate for younger children under any circumstances. This problem needs to be addressed.Collection: Children
This is about the daily ins and outs of a marriage. I don't want to give away the ending, but they are trying either to make the marriage work or make the separation work. Our job is to make that interesting.Collection: Jobs