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The film project has been “twenty years of constipation,” and he likens the Hollywood process to “trying to grill a steak by having a succession of people coming into the room and breathing on it.”
Douglas Adams
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Creating a film can be an excruciatingly slow process, often hindered by too many intervening influences.

In this quote, Douglas Adams expresses his frustration with the lengthy and cumbersome film-making process. He uses the metaphor of 'twenty years of constipation' to illustrate how ideas and projects can get stuck and not progress, while likening the Hollywood approach to cooking to a farcical scenario where the proper outcome is impossible due to excessive interference, highlighting the absurdity and challenges of artistic endeavors in the film industry.

Themes

FilmCreativityProcessArtisticFrustration

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about the lengthy process of film productions at a filmmaker's forum.

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Quote by Douglas Adams | QuoteProject