Top 18 David Zucker Quotes

I think that came out of watching all those serious movies for all that time. If you watch a movie like Zero Hour, Sterling Hayden is pretty funny, and so are the guys in the cockpit.

Woody Allen has done some excellent serious movies, too, like Crimes And Misdemeanors. Very overlooked movie, I think, and really his best. And currently I like Big Fish!

Sometimes, if you really want to try something original, you step a little too far out of bounds. I mean, there’s a market force that kind of unconsciously keeps you in line a little bit.

Quit now, you’ll never make it. If you disregard this advice, you’ll be halfway there.

I’ve always thought those guys are really funny. And I love Dumb and Dumber, Kingpin and Mary.

Our producer Jon Davison thought it would be a good idea to put in additional TV scenes. So, they sent me a tape of these additional TV scenes, and I watched them, and I didn’t think they were that great. I didn’t think it was worth putting them in.

I believe in justice, maybe not in this life, but there has to be justice. And if there isn’t a God, I think it would be very depressing. I’d prefer to believe there is.

I lose tons of stuff on the cutting room floor. For Scary Movie 3, for example, we had a lot of Matrix spoofs, a Hulk scene, and some of that stuff just doesn’t hold up – it’s too much plot, audiences just didn’t want to hear about it.

Everything about it worked, and I don’t mean just the movie, but in our experience, we realized there’s also a component of luck involved in this business. We had absolutely the most competent people in the studio working on the release and ad campaign.

I don’t really know a lot of famous people. I’ve met a lot of famous people. If I ran into Tom Hanks today, I would have to remind him who I was and he would then remember me. But he wouldn’t come up to me and say, ‘Hi Dave!’

I don’t take reviews very seriously, but in their totality I think they are representative of how the audience feels, and of what their reaction is. There’s always one guy who doesn’t get it.

Tim Burton is underrated. I loved Big Fish, loved that movie, think it’s the best movie of the year, hands down. Really impressed with that.

It didn’t happen every time for every movie. Ruthless People was a good movie, but we didn’t get a good release or marketing. They completely blew the opening.

Chevy Chase and Bill Murray – we thought those guys were funny. We love Bill Murray, but we didn’t think they were right for Airplane! because it would step on the joke if there was a known comedian.

I don’t think there has been any increase in sophistication in the audience. When people are aware of a concept that’s easy to understand, and there’s an actor who will attract them to the theater and it’s a movie that’s funny three-quarters of the time, it will be successful.

We didn’t realize it at the time, but the release date, the ad campaign and the poster are so important.

I would love to work with Adam Sandler. Because then all I’d have to do is just turn the camera on and off.

The only one that got through was Jimmy Walker, because he plays the gas station attendant. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just that we were kind of purists at the time, and we didn’t want any comedians.