Rob Reiner Quotations

Everybody talks about wanting to change things and help and fix, but ultimately all you can do is fix yourself. And that's a lot. Because if you can fix yourself, it has a ripple effect.

Women, the way I see it, are very evolved people. They're more mature, they're more aware of their feelings, in touch with their feelings. They're connected to things that matter more in life. They know what's important. Men basically run around like idiots until we meet somebody who can show us that those things are important.

I saw 'The Grand Budapest Hotel.' I liked it. I saw 'The Fault in Our Stars,' and I could see why young girls like it. But it dropped off like crazy in the second weekend. I liked 'Fed Up' - I love documentaries. I go to a lot of documentaries.

The most important thing is that you be a good person and you live by the golden rule of do unto others. If you live by that, that's all I care about.

When I read 'Stand By Me,' it was like, 'This is a look back at the same time period when I was growing up, and it was about kids, but it really felt like what it was like to have those powerful feelings of friendship at age 12.' That's what got to me.

People can be ignorant and still have loving, human qualities.

I know how sobering and exhausting parenthood is. But the reality is that our children's future depends on us as parents. Because we know that the first years truly last forever.

I've made movies that nobody saw initially, and then, all the sudden, people over the years pick up on it. Like 'Spinal Tap' and 'Princess Bride.'

If you have tapped into something that is real for you, chances are you are going to tap into something that is real for someone else.

Something is wrong here, and it's more than easy access to guns or violence on TV. It's about lack of love and attachment to loving people early in life.

It's a very slow process - two steps forward, one step back - but I'm inching in the right direction.

You - I don't think anybody ever forgets the first person they fell in love with. That's something that everybody remembers, and it doesn't matter what the time period is or where; I mean, those feelings are always the same.

I act once in awhile if something comes up that seems fun. I like to do it - its a lot of fun because theres no responsibility. You let other people have the headaches. The director has all of the headaches.

I think Jews are the smartest people in the world

Every single person in jail for a violent crime had a nightmare childhood.

I like writing because you can make things happen and turn out the way they never do in real life.

If you are a creative person, you try to create things that are an extension of yourself.

Martin Scorsese is one of the great filmmakers of all time.

The first time I ever met Stephen King, he came up to me, and we went to shake hands, and he had, like, this fake rubber rat that he kind of, you know, shook at me. You know, and I said, 'No, this is a cliche - this can't be. Stephen King is trying to scare me with a fake rat?' It was just really weird.

The marketing costs are insane now. So even if you've got a picture like 'Flipped' which cost under $14 million, or $13.5 million, you're still going to spend on an national basis, if you release with a good national release, you're still going to spend, you know, $30-$40 million.

The reason they don't make movies for adults and for people which are the largest bulge of the population is because they are not usually going to the movie the first weekend. They take a while to learn about it, probably word of mouth. It takes a lot of money to release a picture.

I actually love Stephen King's writing. I mean, we, actually, at Castle Rock, we've made seven movies out of Stephen King books.

I don't think anybody's all good or all bad.

I love it when people come up to me and they say a line. Like, you know, 'My name is Indigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.'

We agreed that we cannot let personal political attacks get in the way of doing the very best we can for California's children

I think it is over-rated. Whenever I go to an Italian restaurant, I never get the tiramisu.

The other side talks about being the party of diversity and the party of inclusion, ... And how do they figure this? This is what I want to know, except, unless they define diversity as two guys at the head of the ticket that are from two different oil companies.

She was going through the worst of all of this during the making of the film and most people didn't know that.

I gotta tell you, I've never seen anybody with such grace under fire as Jennifer showed. She was going through the worst of all of this during (production) and most people didn't know it.

I gotta tell you I have never seen anybody with such grace under fire as Jennifer was. I mean I have such respect for her. I never saw somebody exhibiting the kind of strength that she had. There were times when what she was going through applied in scenes and she would allow that to happen, but for the most part, you have to separate those things and do your work, and so she was extraordinary.

I don't think you should necessarily listen to a celebrity just because he is one. But if you can marshal your celebrity and really steep yourself in whatever issue you're trying to promote, it can actually move the ball forward, and we've done that.

We made the joke when we screened 'Bucket List' that there was 100% desire to see amongst our demographic with a 40% ability to get them to see it.

I acted when I was young, but at 19, I had my own theater company where I acted but also directed. I also did some theater in Los Angeles. So I was always wanting to direct, even before I became an established actor.

I saw In the Cut and thought, 'My God, what an actor!' ... He has to make a strong impression, so we root for Jennifer to find her way back to him.

We are more than willing to get involved in forming a new system.

Well, the big similarity is what public figures have to go through and their loss of privacy,

When I was doing 'All in the Family,' half the time, I was looking at where the cameras were, where were the other actors in the scene, what the audience was doing.

When I show up to act in a movie for somebody else, I just want to be nice and helpful and do what they want because I know how difficult it is to make a movie. I don't want to cause any problems. So you show up and do your job, and I think if a director understands that, you don't make a lot of demands.

To me, acting is like a party. It's like a fun thing to do. You don't have to worry. You don't have to agonize about anything.

You have to give people the pleasure of giving you.

There's not one film that I've ever made that could get made today by a studio, not one - even 'A Few Good Men' because it's an adult courtroom drama, and studios do not make them any more. And so every movie that I make, have made and will make is always going be independently financed.

They always say girls mature faster than boys, but I don't think that's true because I think girls just are more mature than boys. We're always trying to catch up to them.

The things I care about - education, health care, energy, environment - I need, we all need, to have everybody's voice heard. If a democracy is to work properly, we must not, we dare not, have any voice suppressed.

School readiness is the biggest single component of K-12 reform that is being overlooked by the other candidate and addressed by Vice President Gore ... School readiness in not just a cognitive thing, its a physical thing and its an emotional thing,

As far as getting my start, it was really Norman Lear, even aside from being on 'All in the Family.' He helped me get my start as a director. He was the one who said, 'Let him do 'Spinal Tap.' Let him give it a try,' because I had been trying for years to get that thing off the ground.

This isn't about Republicans or Democrats. It's about investing in our children.

They make three types of movies, and if you don't make one of those three, you have to find independent financing: It's either big-action superhero tent-pole thing, or it's an animated film, or it's an R-rated, raunchy sex comedy. They don't make movies about real people.

There's a lot of finger pointing to Hollywood, there's a lot of criticism, and I believe it's a little bit unbalanced. We're trying to take and be responsible.

This is the greatest support we could ever give to our troops because what we are trying to do is protect them from going into harm's way needlessly, ... There is no God-awful reason to go to war at this moment. There is no reason to rush into this war, and what we are trying to do is protect our troops from sending them into harm's way.

It is the critical time period when the brain develops and grows to 90 percent of its adult size.

It's the only way I really know how to tell the story is to be able to kind of live through the characters. So when I find something that resonates with me, it's usually because it cuts to something very real inside of me; something that I've gone through or experienced.

I remember once, years ago, I met Sting, and he told me that he had seen 'Spinal Tap' 50 times. He said: 'Every time I watch it, I don't know whether to laugh or cry.'

I love the idea of making movies that kids and adults can go to together and both get something out of it, and not just, 'Oh, I've got to take my kid to the movie because they want to see the next, you know, 'Hannah Montana' movie or whatever.'

If I know a guy who's a really good improvisational actor, I'd be foolish not to let him because he'll come up with goodies and all kinds of little freebies that you get.

I'd never ask an actor to do something I couldn't do - not that I'm the best actor in the world - but if I can do it, then I know that anyone I hire can do these things.

This is like no pressure. It's so relaxed, and everyone is, like they say, hanging loose. I mean Cannes is just a zoo, it's like a circus. You're just running around like a maniac.

This is a great day for children in California. This June, voters will have the opportunity to improve California's education system by ensuring that every child, regardless of income, has access to quality preschool.

A lot of times I'll make films that are mostly character-driven films - stories that involve people. Like, I make the joke: I like to make movies about human beings that live on Earth.

When you do improv, you're everything. You're a performer, writer, and director, because you're moving the scene in the direction you want it to go, you're making it up as you go, and you're acting it.

I was also a congressman. I had decided to run for office and had become a congressman with Queen Latifah.

You work with every actor differently. It's like if you're a mother, if you have children, some children need more discipline. Other children you back off of a little bit and let them be. It's the same way with actors. Some actors need a lot of hand holding. Other actors like to be let be and you let them go. Some actors like to be nudged just a little bit. Some actors don't mind line readings.

I love working with my dad, but I need to be independent and do my own stuff.

If you've ever made up something on the spot and made somebody laugh, you can credit Jonathan Winters with inspiration.

I think I have a finely tuned sense of humor. I think just being around it and growing up in it... my dad and Mel Brooks and Norman Lear. These are the people I grew up around.

Harry [Shearer] and I had an idea to do a movie about rock 'n' roll from the roadies' perspective, from backstage. Then Meat Loaf came out with a movie called Roadie and we thought, "Oh, we can't do that now." So we kind of discarded the idea.

I was a kid who was really unhappy with being bussed. I was one of the angry people in the halls.

Usually I don't like to act in movies that I direct because it's kind of confusing.

The script is like music to me. I approach it like it's a musical piece and I hear how it's supposed to sound when people say the words. There's rhythms and there's intonations and things, and so, when somebody comes in and hits the notes that I hear, I go okay. Or, they come close enough, and then I'll say "Well how about you try it like this?" and if they have a good ear and they can pick it up, then I think okay, they've got it.

Anytime a movie lasts, it's really a thrill. I mean, that people can still pick up on it, and still enjoy it, that makes you feel great.

I was certainly a child of the '60s, and I came out of that era, and as a young actor, I got cast as a lot of counterculture hippie types.

You never know if anything is going to stand the test of time or going to be successful.

For me, if I had all the money in the world, and I could finance my own films, I would do whatever.

The movie studios, they only like to make - I make a joke, but it's true - if the movie has the word "man" and a number in the title, they'll make it. If it doesn't have that, it's an R-rated raunchy comedy, and that's it. Any other movie that you're going to make is going to be an independent one. So for filmmakers who want to do something other than "man" and a number, it's either independent films or television, which is like the place for real creative filmmakers to go.

TV's great. I think the best stuff is happening on television.

It gives you more freedom, the digital camera.

For me, the only type of guilty pleasure fun that I have in terms of my career is I act once in awhile. And I don't have any responsibility.

I decided to not just be about protesting or speaking out against certain things, but actually trying to get things done. That has been tremendously fulfilling for me.

As you get older, all those dumb clichés, they're all true. You only have a certain amount of time left, and you should only spend it doing the things that you want to do. It's all true.

I'm always running around trying to raise money to make the films. Fortunately, I've been able to do that, but if I can't, at this point, it's not like I wanted to spend a lot of time putting together, you know, you spend a year of your life on something, you go, "What the hell am I doing that for?"

I guess as I get older, I'm kind of getting drawn to the things that I really love the most, which is trying to figure out ways of blending politics with humor, and making it interesting. So I don't know if anybody's interested in this stuff, but I like it, so I get involved with it.

For the last five, 10 years, you're seeing the best things happen on television.

I think there's great stuff on television. I'm hooked on all these shows. I love watching these shows.

I think for every parent, they know their kids better than anybody else, and they have to just trust their own instincts.

This is about the daily ins and outs of a marriage. I don't want to give away the ending, but they are trying either to make the marriage work or make the separation work. Our job is to make that interesting.

I've known Alan Zweibel since 1975, and I've always had this sneaking suspicion that he might possess a sense of humor. After reading CLOTHING OPTIONAL, I'm almost sure he does.

Under the current system, all children under 17 are treated equally. However, while some films may be appropriate for older children to see with parental accompaniment, some are inappropriate for younger children under any circumstances. This problem needs to be addressed.

Most people are in marriages, and there are very few movies made about what it really is like to be married for a length of time. You always show the romantic part and all that. Or the divorce, and the horrible split, and the guy's having an affair, or she's having an affair, and they're going to get split up, whatever. But very few people just look at what actually happens in a marriage.

I love thrillers. I've never made them, but I would say a really good thriller is my favorite kind of a movie. If I can get a really great thriller, you know.

I hate those movies where hundreds of people get blown up and there are jokes afterward. They poison the soul.

Women are more in touch with their feelings, they're more emotionally developed, they know what's important in life, and the men run around like idiots trying to figure that out until they meet a woman that can show them what's important.

I was already interested in directing when I was very young. I knew that was something I was going to be doing.

Whether it's films or painting or music or writing a book, the greatest experience is being able to express yourself and what you've gone through, trying to figure out a way to make it into something that's artistic that people can connect with.

The problem we have right now in Washington is we don't have the face of a leader.

Pretty much anything you laughed at in the second half of the 20th century can be traced back to Your Show Of Shows.

My fear is that the Tea Party gets a charismatic leader. Because all they're selling is fear and anger. And that's all Hitler sold. 'I'm angry and I'm frightened, and you should hate that guy over there.' And that's what they're doing.

I'm a huge fan of Jonathan Winters. He's influenced everyone who's ever done improvisational comedy. You look to Jonathan Winters for inspiration. He paved the way.

The idea of playing a part where I get to wear a completely undetectable hairpiece... you can't walk away from that.

Albert [Brooks] was rare in that he could make adults laugh. He was a prodigy. At age 15 and 16, he could make my dad laugh uncontrollably. And whenever we had parties, some of the funniest people of my generation - whether it was Billy Crystal or Robin Williams or John Belushi - would be doing shtick.

People always said, "I can't believe you made a movie that had no script." Yeah, but here's the thing, if you've got actors who are used to that, and that's what they like to do, they're all good improvisers and they're all people that feel comfortable doing that, then you know, it's not that big of a deal. It's what you do.

With the films I've done, I've written on them, I've acted in some of them. And even ones I haven't acted in, I've acted them out just to be sure another actor can do them.