Quotes

[on Hal Roach] One of the few producers who knew talent when he saw it, and gave his stars, writers and directors the freedom to create great comedy.

Dumbo (1941) is a film that gets to me every single time I watch it. I cry in the exact same places. When Dumbo starts to cry that's it. I just dissolve.

What sets [Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy] apart from so many other comedians and certainly so many other teams is that you could fall in love with them. They were lovable characters because you believed them. You never had a sense that it was Stan Laurel playing a character or Oliver Hardy playing a character. You just believed they were those two guys. And, of course, in those days--before the era of talk shows--there was never any revealing the illusion. They never wanted to be seen and heard by the public out of character. That was very smart.

The best comedy is always based on truth. We may laugh at a cheap joke, but we're not gonna take it with us or remember it or talk about it the next day. It won't get any kind of memory association. The reason that so many romantic comedies fail is that they're contrivances.

[on Hollywood's tailoring films least likely to offend Chinese censors] Movie attendance in the U.S. Is down because of global piracy and audience indifference. So the explosion of the China market is a boon to the industry. I'm sure the studios are not excited about making the China-inspired change, but they're in business to make a buck and they're finding it hard to resist.

[on running times in the movies] A good film is never too long. A bad film is never short enough.

The Jungle Book (1967) has one of the greatest casts ever. Phil Harris, Louie Prima, George Sanders, and Sterling Holloway. All excellent actors but today there are so many young people who don't know a thing of who those actors are than it doesn't matter anymore. The characters now live on their own.