“After one of my plays came out, I had mixed reviews, some bad and some good. One day, it dawned on me. I thought, 'I wrote a play and he wrote a review, and that's the difference between him and me.'” PlayDifferencesOne DayReviews Author:Steve Martin
“I've been writing for a long time, since the late '60s. But it hasn't been in the same form. I used to write scripts for television. I wrote for my comedy act. Then I wrote screenplays, and then I started writing New Yorker essays, and then I started writing plays. I didn't start writing prose, really, until the New Yorker essays, but they were comic. I didn't start writing prose, really, until the '90s. In my head, there was a link between everything. One thing led to another.” WritingLongPlayFormUsedComedyOne ThingTelevisionLateLong TimeScriptsComicProseLinksEssaysScreenplaysNew Yorkers Author:Steve Martin
“I really like the animated film process. It's kind of like doing a play, because you can experiment with it, rewrite it, screen it, go back, then work on it a little bit more. If the joke doesn't work, you can fix it. It's different from a live action movie.” IfsKindLittlesDifferentPlayActionFilmBitsProcessLittle BitJokesScreensExperimentsAnimatedAction MovieAnimated Films Author:Steve Martin
“I could never be a woman, 'cause I'd just stay home and play with my breasts all day.” PlayHomeCausesBreasts Author:Steve Martin
“I'm not Vegas. Places I play usually cost like $3 to get in, you know, and people are going: Gee, I've got $3, I think I'll throw it away.” PeopleThinkingKnowsPlayCostVegas Author:Steve Martin
“In my banjo show with the Steep Canyon Rangers, I do do comedy during that show. It'd be absurd just to stand there mute and play 25 banjo songs.” PlayShowsSongComedyAbsurdMuteRangersSteepCanyonsBanjos Author:Steve Martin
“I knew I could only play Cyrano if he were Americanized. I had no intention of writing the script myself. I was afraid of it. You're playing with fire when you tamper with a classic. So I went looking for a writer. But it was such a personal idea, and anyone I would give it to would make it his own. It's hard to ask Neil Simon to write your idea.” IfsGivingWritingIdeasHardPlayAsksFireIntentionScriptsClassicPlaying With Fire Author:Steve Martin
“I would get records by Earl Scruggs... I would tune my banjo down and I'd pick out the songs note by note. Learned how to play that way. I persevered. There was a book written by Pete Seeger, who showed you some basic strumming and some basic picking... And I kind of worked out my own style of playing.” WayKindBookPlaySongMy OwnRecordsWrittenStylePicksDown AndNotesTunesBanjosMy Own StyleStrumming Author:Steve Martin
“Movies always are open to being remade because times change so much, and the tempo of movies changes. I think of it like a James Bond. They can have different actors play the same role... I've had people come up to me and say, 'We want to remake 'The Jerk' with so and so.' And I say, 'Fine.' It just doesn't bother me. It's an honor actually.” PeopleThinkingWantDifferentPlayActorsRolesFineHonorCome UpBotherJerkTempoRemakes Author:Steve Martin
“The banjo is such a happy instrument--you can't play a sad song on the banjo - it always comes out so cheerful.” PlayHumorFunnySongInstrumentsCheerfulBanjosSad Song Author:Steve Martin
