Latest Adam McKay Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• When you screen it the first couple times, you're just trying to get the movie to work, trying to get the story to flow, trying to find out where your areas are where you have enough breath to laugh a little bit. So you're doing that the first two or three screenings, and then finally, you dial the movie in and it's working, and at that point, it's 50/50 as far as what's funny and what's working. Sometimes you'll put something in and it will just die so hard that it'll almost kill the movie.

  Adam McKay

  Couple, Laughing, Trying

  Source: film.avclub.com

• There's such an aggressively apolitical movement in the US that anything that smells of being political - even the term "political" is so ridiculous, when you think about it. The worst part of governing, the political side, is the grossest part, so that's what they call it. So anything that reeks of that immediately gets tuned out by 70 percent of the population.

  Adam McKay

  Thinking, Political, Ridiculous

  Source: film.avclub.com

• We punch mirrors and we explore our darker selves. No, it's just an amalgam of all newscasters that we grew up with. Sort of like before there was cable, when these people were like gods.

  Adam McKay

  People

• I think what's dangerous [about comedy] is that you're coming into the room announcing your intentions.

  Adam McKay

  Thinking, Rooms, Comedy

  Source: filmschoolrejects.com

• Most of what's tricky about comedy is the perception of it and the audience's expectation.

  Adam McKay

  Expectations, Perception, Comedy

  Source: filmschoolrejects.com

• The easiest time to be funny is during a fairly serious situation. That way you can break the ice.

  Adam McKay

  Ice, Way, Serious

  Source: filmschoolrejects.com

• If all else fails, you can always be a pro.

  Adam McKay

  Failing, Ifs

  Source: filmschoolrejects.com

• There's a lot of things you can't control. But you can always be a pro.

  Adam McKay

  Source: filmschoolrejects.com

• There's always way less improv than people think. The truth is something like 15 percent.

  Adam McKay

  Thinking, People, Way

  "Gross Prophets". Interview with Brett Martin, www.gq.com. July 12, 2010.

• I've gotten like five laughs in movies, just off guy hugs.

  Adam McKay

  Laughing, Guy, Hug

  "Gross Prophets". Interview with Brett Martin, www.gq.com. July 12, 2010.

• I always give myself a little part in every movie.

  Adam McKay

  Giving, Littles

  "Gross Prophets". Interview with Brett Martin, www.gq.com. July 12, 2010.

• As for movies, what's great about comedy is that if your movie gets laughs and makes money, you have freedom.

  Adam McKay

  Laughing, Comedy, Making Money

  "Gross Prophets". Interview with Brett Martin, www.gq.com. July 12, 2010.

• Every time I wrote a sketch that was in my voice, Ferrell would just do it better.

  Adam McKay

  Voice, Just Do It

  "Gross Prophets". Interview with Brett Martin, www.gq.com. July 12, 2010.

• Animals talking are very rarely funny. But animals behaving as animals - always funny.

  Adam McKay

  Animal, Talking

  "Gross Prophets". Interview with Brett Martin, www.gq.com. July 12, 2010.

• Old man with an old phone. That's never not funny.

  Adam McKay

  Men, Phones, Old Man

  "Gross Prophets". Interview with Brett Martin, www.gq.com. July 12, 2010.

• Blanket cynicism toward government has always existed.

  Adam McKay

  Government, Cynicism, Blanket

  Source: www.progressive.org

• I grew up with a single mom who was a waitress. We were on food stamps. My mom then got Pell Grants, put herself through college to get a degree to get a better job. Because we were broke, I then had to go to a state school. I went to Temple University, and had to get loans. So I grew up in a world where I saw the government helping individuals pull themselves up, and saw it work very successfully.

  Adam McKay

  Mom, Jobs, School

  Source: www.progressive.org

• I think American culture had just become so disengaged from the process of government, and we'd been so fuzzed out by our pop culture around us, that I don't think people really saw this guy for what he was.

  Adam McKay

  Thinking, Government, People

  Source: www.progressive.org

• You could feel America starting to ease up a little bit on racism, against blacks in certain pockets, and then suddenly The Cosby Show bubbled up and it was the right time for it.

  Adam McKay

  America, Racism, Pockets

  Source: www.progressive.org

• I think that the job of art and culture is to jump on that time and realize that it's there and to push it just a little bit faster.

  Adam McKay

  Art, Jobs, Thinking

  Source: www.progressive.org

• It so happens that America, according to all the polls that are out there, is pretty progressive. So you're not going to see messages that support Ayn Randian individualism at the cost of the whole, because most people don't agree with that.

  Adam McKay

  America, People, Support

  Source: www.progressive.org

• There are so many shoot-'em-up, action, jingoistic TV shows and movies that are made every year. I think the final line is that Hollywood is populist.

  Adam McKay

  Thinking, Years, Tv Shows

  Source: www.progressive.org

• Hollywood has to appeal to the broadest audience, and when it comes to most social and economic issues, America is progressive. Because of that, the messages that are in Hollywood movies tend to be, for instance, pro-environment.

  Adam McKay

  America, Issues, Hollywood

  Source: www.progressive.org

• I don't think there's ever been a moment in history where that, as an artistic message, has played very well, because people in their hearts know that's terrible and a lie.

  Adam McKay

  Lying, Heart, Thinking

  Source: www.progressive.org

• In general, the final filter of Hollywood is for-profit. Nothing goes through unless it can make money.

  Adam McKay

  Hollywood, Filters, Finals

  Source: www.progressive.org