I think Hollywood has a class system. The actors are like the inmates, but the truth is they're running the asylum.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that while actors may seem confined by the industry, they actually hold significant power and influence within it.
In this quote, Robert De Niro compares Hollywood to a classical asylum where the actors, who appear to be restricted or controlled, are actually the ones in charge. The metaphor highlights the paradox of how those who seem to be seen as mere performers within the industry possess the authority and creativity that drive the entire system of filmmaking. This statement prompts us to reconsider appearances of power and control in any hierarchical structure.
In practice
In a conversation about the entertainment industry, one might quote De Niro to illustrate how actors influence film production.
You never know what you do that could be totally out of left field, which actually might work and give something fresh to the whole scene, to the character, whatever. If you have that with a director who then knows how to shape it, either in the direction, in the moment, or in the editing, then that's good.
I spent lunchtime in a grave during the filming of 'Bloody Mama.' When you're younger, you feel that's what you need to do to help you stay in character. When you get older, you become more confident and less intense about it - and you can achieve the same effect.
The mind of a writer can be a truly terrifying thing. Isolated, neurotic, caffeine-addled, crippled by procrastination, consumed by feelings of panic, self-loathing, and soul-crushing inadequacy. And thatβs on a good day.
If you're an actor, always be true to your character. If you are not an actor, have character and always be true to yourself.
People of different religions and cultures live side by side in almost every part of the world, and most of us have overlapping identities which unite us with very different groups. We can love what we are, without hating what β and who β we are not. We can thrive in our own tradition, even as we learn from others, and come to respect their teachings.
If we make anything that lasts, it outlives us.
This is the one and only firmament; therefore it is the absolute world. There is no other world. The circle is complete. I am living in Eternity. The ways of this world are the ways of Heaven.
You know the theory of cell irritability? If you take an amoeba cell and poke it a thousand times, it will change and then re-form into its original shape. And then, the thousandth time you poke this amoeba, the cell will completely collapse and become nothing. That's kind of what it's like being famous. People say hi, how are you doing, and after the thousandth time, you just get angry; you really pop.
I am life that wants to live, in the midst of life that wants to live.
It is written that there shall be a separation, and the sheep shall be separated from the goats. The other preachers have the sheep; I have the goats. And I have a few sheep among my goats, but they are very ragged.
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