Script Alteration Quotes

Since I am a turbaned Sardar, I can only play Sardar roles. Either that or producers should be willing to alter the script to accommodate my physical appearance. But I won't call this a restriction.

There's always something that draws you away from the original script.

In 'Notting Hill,' I was part of a whole plot line over six scenes that was completely taken out. That was rather depressing.

The whole movie thing has never been a source of great pride for me, in that Burt Reynolds, who starred in the picture, butchered the original script I had written for the late Steve McQueen, and the result, while a massive moneymaker, was lashed by the critics. But like the old joke about Pierre the Bridge Builder, The Cannonball Run is indelibly inscribed on my so-called career portfolio, and few conversations with strangers pass without the subject of the picture arising.

The conventional wisdom with David Mamet is, you do not change a word. And that agrees with me. If you want to change any of David's words, it's like wanting to change the iambic pentameter in Shakespeare - you should do something else.

You're looking for the best way of shooting it, but sometimes the best way of shooting it is changing the script.

When you want to put something into your part that is not in the play, you must ask the author-or some other author-to lead up to the interpolation for you. Never forget that the effect of a line may depend not on its delivery, but on something said earlier in the play, either by somebody else or by yourself, and that if you change it, it may be necessary to change the whole first act as well.

The key is, if you're not monkeying around with the script, then everything usually goes pretty well.

Writers are not always right however, but then again, I've been on shows where the actors have complete control and change everything and it's terrible.

You can win more arguments then you might think as a writer, even though you legally have no recourse, and your script can get muddied and altered in any way possible. You can use reason, logic, and passion to argue persuasively for a case in your favor.

I'm used to changing a lot of the dialogue. But if I feel like the script is working, I don't want to mess with it.

What if Shakespeare had had a test audience for Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet?