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We write and write and write until we think, 'If we have to shoot this script, we'll be happy, and it's going to be a great movie.' I meet with all the actors two weeks before, and I ask them, 'What lines don't work? What is uncomfortable for you? What jokes do you think aren't good? If you're not getting it, here's what the joke is.' You fix it.
Jay Chandrasekhar -
I have used the name Jambulingam while editing films such as 'Super Troopers' and 'Puddle Cruiser.' I like the look and sound of it.
Jay Chandrasekhar
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If a joke makes our tribe laugh, we assume it will make other friend-tribes laugh.
Jay Chandrasekhar -
I am convinced that tough villains help make a comedy sparkle because they provide a contrast to the funny guys.
Jay Chandrasekhar -
People always ask us, 'Hey, is there going to be a 'Beerfest 2'?' I don't know if I have another beer joke in me.
Jay Chandrasekhar -
We can't make movies without scripts, and there's no cost to writing a script, so my advice to newcomers is do it yourself: Write your own script, shoot your shorts, edit your shorts.
Jay Chandrasekhar -
I actually like and love Chevy Chase.
Jay Chandrasekhar -
There used to be lots of legitimate independent distributors: Fox Searchlight, Miramax, Lionsgate, Warner Independent, Focus Features, Paramount Vantage, Picturehouse and Fine Line. Most of them have closed.
Jay Chandrasekhar
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If I had to be in the Olympics, I suppose I would do the javelin throw.
Jay Chandrasekhar -
Occasionally, we would shoot something and think, 'This is it; we are over the line.' But the test audiences didn't have a problem with it.
Jay Chandrasekhar -
'Spinal Tap' is interesting because it created a genre of film and ended it - all in one motion. If you do a mockumentary, you are always going to be compared with that film, and you are never going to be as funny.
Jay Chandrasekhar -
I remember walking into the editing room when I was a junior in college, and I watched the guy make cuts, and I didn't know what the hell was going on. He was just putting these shots together and telling the story, and it was amazing.
Jay Chandrasekhar -
Whether I'm performing or directing, I'm aways thinking about rhythm; sometimes it's nailing the right rhythm, and sometimes it's intentionally breaking the rhythm. Those two things are what make something funny or not. How long a shot is and where you put the camera are all part of that rhythm of directing.
Jay Chandrasekhar -
What I do when I act and direct is I do a small version, go a little bigger, do a medium one, an over-the-top one, and then even bigger than that. I'll do six readings of the line. And they're not all the same. Just so I know if I was wrong about what I should have done, I luckily have this more subtle version.
Jay Chandrasekhar
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In 2010, The Princeton Review ranked Colgate the most beautiful campus in America - I agree.
Jay Chandrasekhar -
When I started, there were no Indians on television or films, except for Sir Ben Kingsley. I was an actor in high school, college, and I played leads. And when I graduated, I knew that I couldn't go to Hollywood and audition for shows or films. I could try, but where was the evidence that it was going to happen?
Jay Chandrasekhar -
I have always enjoyed outlaw films such as 'Smokey and the Bandit.'
Jay Chandrasekhar -
A lot of comedy films, there's the opinion, 'Well, if it's funny, put it in.' But I think you have to be more disciplined than that.
Jay Chandrasekhar -
Filmmaking, at the end of the day, is really - in addition to the story and all of the equipment and the actors, it's really about time management. And so the smartest filmmakers are the ones who sort of pre-visualize the film in their head and are literally shooting the shots they need to cut the story together.
Jay Chandrasekhar -
The reality of show business - and I suppose a lot of businesses, but specifically show business - is that it is this business of 'no's.' It's mostly 'no's.'
Jay Chandrasekhar
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Every time you jump to another format in the 'picture business,' meaning film, television, commercials, the people in the other format go, 'Ah, yeah, you made a lot of features, but you don't know how to do TV' or the commercial people go, 'Oh, you can't do 30 seconds.'
Jay Chandrasekhar -
Growing up, I was the only Indian kid around for miles, so I ached to belong. I had a neighborhood pack of nine guys and two girls, and we hung out all the time. We played football, baseball, and broom-hockey on the iced-up lake.
Jay Chandrasekhar -
Philosophy teaches you to think big.
Jay Chandrasekhar -
That movie - 'Airplane!' - it influenced so many of us.
Jay Chandrasekhar