Christopher Guest Quotes
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'Waiting For Guffman' was different right away from 'Spinal Tap,' because we didn't show the interviewer. That person became invisible immediately. That created a different way of tuning it and ultimately editing it.
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As an actor, I trust my ear.
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I like to play music, and I like to be funny, so I just do both at the same time.
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I watch mostly documentaries and things that aren't remotely funny.
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'The Office' is an amazing show. So is 'Extras.'
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I didn't go to film school. I had been an actor in movies, I had been in plays, and then I just sort of jumped into it.
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Most films, when you finish as an actor, you just go home.
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People who take themselves too seriously, who can't see anything else, are usually funny.
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I think fans are so brought up in a culture of rooting for a team since they were kids, ostensibly, and are blind to this idea that people might take offense.
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I guess there's something that's appealing to me about people that are aspirational-slash-deluded.
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There isn't much improvisation in film - there's virtually none. The people that theoretically could be good at this in a theater situation don't necessarily do this in a film in a way that will work, because it's much broader on a stage.
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The movies have a way of seeping out there over time. We don't put them in 2,000 theaters. It wouldn't work that way.
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I'm a fly fisherman. I make flies. They're imitations of insects at different stages in their development.
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There are dozens and dozens of improv classes across the nation, but it really cannot be taught.
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Comedy is like music. You have to know the key and you have to find players with good chops.
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When I look back on what I've done, I think I'm drawn to obsession, perhaps.
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I spent more time in America, but I developed a very English sense of humour. I clicked into it deeply with Peter Sellers, who is still probably my favourite comedian.
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The minute the money is more, you lose your control, so then there's no point.
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It's dangerous talking about comedy; it gets to be very tedious and presumptuous.
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In the kind of films that I do, there is an extremely limited number of people that can improvise. The reason the ensemble continues in the movies is because those are the people that can do that kind of work. It's not just an accident those people are in the film.
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What interests me most are the emotional lives of the people. If I don't have that, it's not worth doing, frankly.
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Peter Sellers is my great comedy hero.
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I'm not really premeditative in any way at all. I come up with an idea, hopefully for a film, and then I'm lucky enough to do the film.
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Many times I'll improvise it, which isn't done a lot in movies or commercials. But a lot of my commercials are improvised.