If I can get you to laugh with me, you like me better, which makes you open to my ideas
John CleeseRead
Some actors, I think, want to feel that they are as creative as the writer. And the answer is, frankly, they're not.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the distinction between actors and writers in the creative process.
John Cleese suggests that while some actors may desire to be seen as equally creative as the writers who craft the narratives they perform, the inherent nature of their roles distinguishes them. Actors interpret and portray characters based on the writers' creations, which raises the question of creative ownership and contribution within the arts.
In practice
During a panel discussion on the creative process in film, this quote could highlight the collaborative nature of writing and acting.
If I can get you to laugh with me, you like me better, which makes you open to my ideas
Because, as we all know, itβs easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are not urgent, like thinking. And itβs also easier to do little things we know we can do than to start on big things that weβre not so sure about.
If you are leaping a ravine, the moment of takeoff is a bad time to be considering alternative strategies.
In Britain, girls seem to be either bright or attractive. In America, that's not the case. They're both.
I used to desire many, many things, but now I have just one desire, and that's to get rid of all my other desires.
When the target audience is American teenage kids, you can have problems. My generation prized really fine acting and writing. Sometimes you have to go back to the basic principles which underpin great visual comedy.
I wonder if I don't give too much of myself to writing: I am always half where I am; the other half is feeding the furnace, kick-starting the heat of creativity. I am making love with someone but at the same time I'm noticing how this graceful hand across my belly might just fit in with the memory of lilacs in Albuquerque in 1974.
A writer has to be driven crazy to help him to see. A writer needs his poisons.
I try to read a lot and listen to a lot of good songwriters, and I try to actually work on the craft of writing a song rather than just leaving it up to inspiration.
I'm an actor, not a star. Stars are people who live in Hollywood and have heart-shaped swimming pools.
When you get down to it, the way that the music affects you individually is the most important thing, and when you let things like the location of a band get in the way or have an effect on your overview, you're cheating yourself out of a really good time.
I don't try to sanction other people's joy in monsters. I mean, I think the fact is, humor, fantasy - you know, like fear, desire or laughter - create genres of their own: comedy, melodrama, or erotic films or horror films... The boundaries cannot be defined. It's to each his own.
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