Theodore Bikel Quotes

I think that the cinema is a physical thing. What I'm looking for is creating a physical shock with the audience. I don't care of the meaning. I don't care of the idea. I don't want to say something. I want to make a 'shock physique.'

If you can actually get someone to sit on the edge of their seat and feel nervous if there's a knock at the door, then you've done something pretty terrific as a writer.

It's very difficult to get an audience to be terrified of what's going on. Think about it: You're in a room with so many other people, so for them to be terrified and to care about what's going on on-screen takes a lot of work.

My most successful song was 'Language' and I think partly because it's a nice, dancey record, but I'll see people cry in the audience to that song, and that's so much more interesting to me than making someone just jump up and down.

I remember watching movies like 'Fatal Attraction' and watching the audience go bananas at the end of the film.

One of the wonderful things about 'Power' and why fans often say it makes their heart race is it's set up like a horror film because the audience is, like, four or five steps ahead of the characters.

The task is to influence and create a reaction in the audience. In my opinion, any reaction of a human being in the audience, I think this is great. It means we touched the person's soul.

Show me a character whose life arouses my curiosity, and my flesh begins crawling with suspense.

As you follow the escapades or the journey of the hero through a story, it evokes some kind of emotion in the viewers. The director's job is to make sure that the audience goes through the journey and has an emotional reaction.

I wouldn't say that I'm actually trying to cause chills in the audience, but certainly my goal is to, at the very least, effect a physiological response - at the most, to effect some sort of state change, ideally, in the audience.

What I find frustrating about scripted television is that it's rare that you are surprised by how you feel about the character, or how you feel about the show.

We either carry our audience with us, or irritate them.

Comedy is harder, because if there's no laughs, it's pretty bad. But drama, if there's no reaction, you can say, 'Well, it's not their cup of tea. Maybe it's too heavy for the audience.'

I want to shake people up so bad, that when they leave a nightclub where I've performed, I just want them to be to pieces.

The essence of comedy, drama, and horror is surprise. I have an uncanny ability to surprise people because they look at my face, and they don't know where I'm going.

I love characters who can rile an audience so much - it means you've done your job well.

People have cried at a couple of shows. To think that someone could do that for me... Jesus Christ. That's a crazy sign.

I don't want people to look back at my matches and say, 'When you did that move, it was good, and I liked it because it was cool.' I want people to sort of remember a rush of images and the emotion that they felt when they saw it. That's when I think you have a real masterpiece in your hands.

When I go to a live show, I want to be moved. That's why you do it. And it's not very often that a band will move you live.

What I always do is go with the stories that put up the hair on the back of my neck or make me cry or make me laugh.

Comedy is like horror - you have to shock something in the viewer's system to make them feel it.

I am a stress buster. Because I knew what people react or think after watching me on screen and I love it.

I believe thrillers work if the story is good. It is not easy to make a thriller because the audience is making their own story in their minds as they watch the film. You have to break that expectation and still make them like the film.

In film, there's always this looking for the 'If you lay down and burst into tears, you did a good job.'

When I did 'Venice Dawn,' there were times where people would cry after listening to it.