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
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.
There's no downside to having too much experience.
I would give the cameras to the kids in the swimming pools and they would play with them, and then I would collect them and we would upload it. If you're in the process, you're there.
I got a chance to work with Mel Brooks on two of his films: Silent Movie and High Anxiety.
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.
It's always hard to explain why an audience ultimately responds to a movie.
I do know when you look at some ballplayer and all of a sudden he is the size of a truck something is wrong.
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.
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.
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...
I always think that there is the good and the bad of it all.
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.
I think certain movies work and that is part of the magic of it all. We can't truly define why something succeeds.
I think it's a promising time which will show a lot of diversification that we've seen in the past.