Barry Levinson
Barry Levinson
Barry Levinsonis an American filmmaker, screenwriter, and actor. Levinson's best-known works are comedy-drama and drama films such as, Diner, The Natural, Good Morning, Vietnam, Rain Man, Bugsy, and Wag the Dog. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for his work on Rain Man, which also won the Academy Award for Best Picture...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth6 April 1942
CityBaltimore, MD
CountryUnited States of America
Barry Levinson quotes about
It's finding those nonsensical pieces of conversation that we all do all the time. We do all the time. When we're talking on the telephone, there are arguments with people who agree when they both think that they disagree.
When I was growing up in Baltimore, the Colts were not just a team that played in the city. It was part of the city. Football players didn't make close to the money they make today and most took jobs in the off-season. Some were mechanics, others worked at furniture stores, and you could find them drinking at a neighborhood watering hole...
The interesting thing about movies, it's not always - y'know, you have to have structure etc and all those things, but an audience responds, in many ways, we walk away and certain things stay in our heads that are memorable.
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.
I'm fascinated by documentaries, to begin with. Because of the nature of television, as opposed to theatrical, documentaries can be in this long form and take you on a journey.
Craig Nelson who is an actor and is in a show called Coach in the United States. We began to do some improvisational stuff and we used to get laughs and things.
You have a movie and it proves itself and then certain things happen.
Some actors are supposed to be very difficult, but I've not found that to be the situation.
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.
First of all, just to get Diner made would have been an achievement in that I got a chance to direct.
A lot of time mistakes are very interesting - you look for the behaviour that's not the one you expect.
They're intimidating the networks and levying these fines, so the networks are not sure of what they can or can't do.
You do understand that you can't force the situation, but in terms of how you edit, you can define that to take the audience along, whether it be a storyline or a character moment that we can play out. The more experience you've had, the more beneficial it is, period.
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.