Rain Man certainly didn't test really well. If you look at it carefully, you have a disease autism they didn't understand back then, they didn't know in the test audience whether it's okay to laugh or not laugh, because it's a film that's done in a way where, "Well, maybe I'm not supposed to laugh." At the end of the film, Dustin Hoffman gets on the train and doesn't even acknowledge his brother. Not even a glance, nothing. That's why the studio said, "Can't you just have him look at Tom Cruise at the end of the film?"
I thought a great line in the What Just Happened movie said, "We're just the mayonnaise." - Barry Levinson
I thought a great line in the What Just Happened movie said, "We're just the mayonnaise."
- Barry Levinson
I think certain movies work and that is part of the magic of it all. We can't truly define why something succeeds. - Barry Levinson
I think certain movies work and that is part of the magic of it all. We can't truly define why something succeeds.
First of all, just to get Diner made would have been an achievement in that I got a chance to direct. - Barry Levinson
First of all, just to get Diner made would have been an achievement in that I got a chance to direct.
As soon as digital editing came about, I immediately made the switch to digital. - Barry Levinson
As soon as digital editing came about, I immediately made the switch to digital.
You don't always have to have the ending, but you want to have a satisfactory conclusion. - Barry Levinson
You don't always have to have the ending, but you want to have a satisfactory conclusion.
You have a movie and it proves itself and then certain things happen. - Barry Levinson
You have a movie and it proves itself and then certain things happen.
It's always hard to explain why an audience ultimately responds to a movie. - Barry Levinson
It's always hard to explain why an audience ultimately responds to a movie.
I think test screening works at its best when the audience knows what it's getting. - Barry Levinson
I think test screening works at its best when the audience knows what it's getting.
There's no downside to having too much experience. - Barry Levinson
There's no downside to having too much experience.
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