The World Motivation
The catch in the industry is that if you want to get a picture made for little money, you have to get a big star. But the two are usually mutually exclusive.
“The catch in the industry is that if you want to get a picture made for little money, you have to get a big star. But the two are usually mutually exclusive.”
The catch in the industry is that if you want to get a picture made for little money, you have to get a big star. But the two are usually mutually exclusive.
I have some kind of knack for getting to know or becoming very close with people I've long admired.
If you're watching comedy movies, go back and check out the Marx Brothers in 'Duck Soup,' or Buster Keaton in 'The General,' or Laurel and Hardy or W.C. Fields or whatever - and see what pure talent really was, so that you can see where it came from, and then you can sort of gauge it from there.
It took me little more than two years to complete my film, 'Woody Allen: A Documentary.' I conducted hours of filmed interviews with Woody, who put forward no ground rules about questions I could ask, or topics to avoid.
You have to remember that in the microcosm of Cincinnati, Ohio, through northern Kentucky, my father was a big star, still is. So that made my sister and me really visible. Everybody knew us, talked about us.
I used to think I was a big star. And I used to think that the TV industry, Balaji, and my show will not survive without me. But then I realised that you cannot be bigger than your work.
I didn't want to be a big star. I wanted to be a really good actor.
I've had days here and there where I would get discouraged because I wasn't a big star, but I've made a living ever since I was 27. Not a great living, but enough for me. I think actually being able to pay my rent and eat and perform is enough, and I did that for many years. Then I had some good years in there, too, where I made pretty good money.