Ivan Reitman Quotations

In many ways, I think that, while we've been remarkably violent in our media, there's been a real schizophrenia. In private, on the Internet, and on public-affairs shows or talk radio, we're way more explicit than we've ever been.

I think Junior is certainly a science fiction premise as is Twins, as is Dave, beyond Ghostbusters.

Movies either work or they don't work and they're either funny or they're not and we work very hard. To achieve that kind of work is really kind of delicate stitching.

I call it like the domino theory of reality. If you can go one step at a time and it seems to make sense, you can then take your audience into an area that is relatively outlandish.

Then my first film was something called Cannibal Girls, which sounds like a horror movie but was actually kind of a goofy comedy with horror elements. Like a horror spoof.

I don't think my sense of humor has changed at all; I was born with this, for better or for worse.

Everybody says how hard comedy is, but, when it comes time to honor things, whether it's on a weekly critical basis or whether it's award time, at that time of the year, comedy is the poor, dumb child of dramatic work.

I'm not sure I agree with the thesis, because I think that even though something grotesque or gross has been part of film since way back, what we accept or what we can get away with on the screen is broader now.

It's been about 15 years, and I've never really worked seriously in CGI and I thought that here was an opportunity to do the kinds of things that I was not able to do on Ghostbusters.

When you have a performer as talented as Bill Murray or as Harold, that can write as well as they can perform, you can do a final draft on the set if you think of it that way.

Also watching a movie on DVD is different than watching it in the theater.

I never like to do parodies. I never do. It's just not my style of comedy.

I've always been a fan of science fiction films, and I've never been able to put my particular spin on it.

In a comedy it helps enhance things that were already there.

It's sort of the most important thing for acting, is to listen to the person you're dealing with.

My sense is, I think it's okay for directors to do movies that speak to other work in their career.

The home viewing experience is slightly different and there's room for these kinds of extra excursions.

We got some devastating reviews on Animal House at the start.

Well, actually, I did start out in comedies. Very, very early.

I always thought that Bill Murray was one of the great actors that I've worked with. And I've worked with all kinds of people who are known primarily for their dramatic work.

My first student film was Orientation, which was basically the set-up for Animal House. There are a couple of scenes that we later borrowed in some form.

A good actor is someone who knows how to take the part and make it real and make it honest and be effective in it. If it's in a funny movie and, as long as they are cast in an appropriate way, humor will come from it.

I always see things that I can improve. But frankly with Stripes, I'm surprised at how effective it is, even today, and how vibrant that movie is and how juicy the performances all are.

I don't think there will be another Ghostbusters. I think we're all too old to do it. I think we've done it a couple times and there is not that much to get out of it, to do that would be fresh in it.

I remember when first, Stripes, and then Animal House came out - which I was really proud of, even though it was kind of loose and quite raucous - there were imitative movies that were not quite as good.

I've always believed in populating my films with characters who we like, who we have some warmth for, who have warmth for each other, who we would like to hang out with, who we emulate in one way or another.

Very early on, I decided I didn't want smoking in the movie. It's not really a movie about smoking, but about lobbying. Tobacco is just the setting. It's not that I believe in the idea that movies should be responsible and not show smoking. But I think if the characters had been smoking, it would have seemed a pro-smoking movie, whereas it's about lobbying and spin and talk.

I don't think people can be mad at Nick or hold anything against him, because he almost makes fun of himself, ... He knows how other people feel about him. So he disarms them. He will not allow them to get into his head because he already knows their position on him.

I still look at the poster and can't believe I directed this movie.

Yes, there are bodily function issues that are a central premise of this movie and I think they're handled with amazing delicacy of humor.

I've almost never watched The X Files through. I was never a fan, I don't watch much television anyway so it's nothing personal.

Evolution ... Just the right formula of science and comedy may get moviegoers through the door

I think if people want to see pure sex in the movie, they have the Internet and the extraordinary things are available.

Comedy is a very delicate business, especially comedies that sort of attempt to do things in an honest way and in a very naturalistic way the way that 'No Strings Attached' is.

We watch movies about all sorts of things that we don't know anything about, but we do get caught up in the human drama.

I love horror and sci-fi.

I'd always been a science fiction enthusiast.

I'd love to do a musical actually. My background is in music. I have a bachelors in music. I thought that I was going to be a composer, long ago when I first started. So it was amazingly fun to do those two routines in the film.

Evolution .. Just the right formula of science and comedy may get moviegoers through the door.

It seemed like so much of romantic relationships today have to do when the people are not in the same room. Whether it's texting or emailing or Facebooking, there's a kind of distance between the participants. I think it's sort of shifted the energy of that first romantic meeting, where it's quicker, perhaps more desperate, more energetic, in a whole different way, and it's resulted in a situation where people seem to be sometimes more comfortable having a sexual relationship than an emotional one.

The real trick for me as a director is to make sure that people don't start pushing because the harder you push as a perform the less funny it becomes.

Much of romantic relationships today have to do when the people are not in the same room. Whether it's texting or e-mailing or Facebooking, there's a kind of distance between the participants.

I believe that improvisation is really just a directorial tool. It's a writing tool.

The hardest thing for everyone, for the writer, for the director and certainly for the actors, is not to panic when they're doing a certain line for the tenth time because everything ceases to be funny after it's been repeated.

A lot of movies at this festival were struggling to find distributors, ... This film was fortunate enough to find more than its share.