Mark Duplass Quotes & Sayings

Most directors do work in pairs. There's usually some form of this, sometimes it literally comes down to you both show up in the morning and one of you is like, "I'm a little tired and overwhelmed today, so I might need you to just be a little step ahead of me and speak with more confidence because I'm not quite there." So, there's quite a bit of that in other teams. — Mark Duplass

We always joke now like, you know, the more experienced we get making stuff, we're like, "Never leave set without a shot of each of our lead characters driving in the car looking happy, looking moderately blank and looking sad." Because we know we're going to need these things. — Mark Duplass

A lot of it is found in the editing room and part of that is due to some of the improvisational tactics we employ on set. Part of it is that the shot goes a little bit long and they end up coming down to fit time. — Mark Duplass

I really like Jason Blum a lot. We're friends, and while we make wildly disparate films, we share a philosophy about low-budget filmmaking, about taking chances on young filmmaking, taking risks and obliterating our salary so we can make something cheaply and if it wins everyone wins big. — Mark Duplass

'Somewhere in Time' is in the top-five cheesiest movies ever made. It's super melodrama. — Mark Duplass

No one can stop you from doing exactly what you want to do. If you can accept that the cavalry won't come, and if you can be the cavalry, it gives you a chance to be happy. — Mark Duplass

I have a Google alert for myself - it's pure vanity. — Mark Duplass

When you're improvising, it's fun to find something that you can lean on that is similar to your life experience. In my opinion, that's very helpful. — Mark Duplass

I feel like, if I'm being honest with myself, my biggest skill set is as a writer 'cause I can do that quickly and I'm really grounded in story structure. Part of my success as an actor, is that I know story well. Part of my success as a director, is how well I know story. Same thing, as a producer. It all begins and ends with me as a story creator. But, I love doing it all. — Mark Duplass

It's not so much less pressure, it's less work, which is really exciting to me. I'm just personally looking forward to being able to spend a little more time doing different things, so that's really great. Jay and I are writing a book this year which is really fun and so yeah, I am very excited to spend less crazy 12-hour days on set. Those were taxing times. — Mark Duplass

And, there are negatives and positives to it. Like, you know, just like a marriage, where you're like, "Well, this ... you know, is the sex still as exciting as it was two years ago?" — Mark Duplass

We've done things that are faster at times, but it's definitely different when we direct all the episodes because it's like we have to write them all, then shoot them all, then edit them all. So we have to just get ahead on those scripts basically. — Mark Duplass

We get to get into the nitty-gritty and the minutiae of the way they relate now, and that's really valuable. We just have to make sure we don't repeat ourselves and we plot this thing so it doesn't dead end too much, and so that's the challenge really. It's like, how do you keep those balls in the air and make it exciting still? — Mark Duplass

I know, we can barely fit them in. That is a big challenge. Treating four lead characters equally, within a 30-minute format, is definitely challenging. — Mark Duplass

It's kinda crazy to say, but the way Jay [Duplass] and I stay afloat, because we don't make particularly commercial fare that makes a lot of money, is that we make things cheaply and we make things small. We would kind of be afraid to go make a $100 million movie because you have to do certain things to it to have it make its money back. — Mark Duplass

Well, I'll be honest with you, sometimes you don't know you're playing a moment that's going to be in a montage. Sometimes it's a scene that didn't work out the way you hoped it would be and ends up in a montage. — Mark Duplass

I'm fortunate enough to act in a TV show that makes me a lot of money so I can pay for my own movies. I don't have to wait for anybody and that's more of what I like doing. But I still think that you don't have to be connected in the industry to make your movie. You just have to write something that is meant to be made cheaply. — Mark Duplass

If anybody normally has a 45 minute conference call about something, I'm 15 minutes late and then I'm out 15 minutes before everybody else, and I cut to the key information and I move on. I learned that from my dad and guys like Jason Blum, who know how to do that. — Mark Duplass

Jay [Duplass] and I normally just sit around and people watch, and we talk about things that are happening in our lives, or with people that we've met. That's the soup from which our movies usually come from. — Mark Duplass

As an actor, when you walk into a room to audition, you get five minutes with a casting director, who doesn't even look at you, most of the time. — Mark Duplass

There's no excuse not to make films on weekends with friends. — Mark Duplass

I'm a narrative-minded actor. I'm thinking of the story. I'm not worried about whether the camera is on the right side of my face, or where the camera is. I'm just going for the story. — Mark Duplass

I really believe in constantly trying to find and support new ways of watching independent art, because the old ways are not working as well. — Mark Duplass

I am not afraid to admit, though slightly ashamed that I Google myself and I see people writing things about me and I get really proud and happy. — Mark Duplass

I'm interested to see what happens to Spike Lee with limited resources, you know? I love Spike Lee's movies. But you know what? I kinda liked his movies when he used to scramble and fight more for them. — Mark Duplass

I'll do any kind of movie, as long as it's a good version of it. — Mark Duplass

Making movies that are really cheap and that can be owned and that you maintain your control of is really exciting. — Mark Duplass

My wife and I have been together for many years and that, to me, is like endlessly fascinating and endlessly confusing how to sustain all of the excitement from the front of our relationship, valuing that versus the comfort and knowing that she knows all of my flaws and still loves me. It's great, but certainly not as exciting as it was day one. — Mark Duplass

We've shot with babies and kids and it was tough. It's not easy. It looks tangential, but it is not. — Mark Duplass

They're each on separate coasts but I think that the deep Maine woods shares some similarities to the Pacific Northwest. — Mark Duplass

Obviously we know Bill Hader is funny and charming, but my question is, can he do raw humanity and naturalism? I think so. — Mark Duplass

If we have anything to offer, as filmmakers and as TV makers now, it's this ability to feel as close to a documentary as you can get in a narrative form. — Mark Duplass

We work in this cave, and we speak to each other sort of subconsciously and with like, weird cues and tangential brother speak, but it really comes down to if you are the person who is moving amongst the actors and talking to people more, the other one can have a little more time to really watch. — Mark Duplass

My wife and I are like twins and that is a great and a terrible thing for a marriage. It makes for the most comfortable thing in the world to be truly known and loved, but also makes for a lot of conflict and that's how we roll in my house. — Mark Duplass

Just being able to make exactly what I want with my brother and a lot of my best friend and to have a place like HBO that not only lets you do that, but supports you and puts up billboards in support of it, and really puts it out there for you. That's not something I get a lot in the independent film world where everybody's pinching pennies and nervous about whether it's going to make money or not. — Mark Duplass

I mean, it really has a lot to do with who is actually physically doing a lot of talking. And we've just noticed that as we've evolved we're still making all the decisions from this, like, "cave." — Mark Duplass

Going to the theater, spending tons of money, people are losing money doing that. I'm really interested in my kinds of movies being seen as many people as possible on a TV. — Mark Duplass

A lot of solo directors have a really strong creative producer with them. Jay and I have less of a need for that because we have each other. — Mark Duplass

You know, I watched the original 'Same Time, Next Year' on DVD about ten times this year, and I cried all ten times. — Mark Duplass

I question every move. I'm constantly second-guessing myself. — Mark Duplass

If you're locked to the words on the script, as good as those scripted words are, if you didn't have the time to rehearse them correctly or if the perceived dynamic between the actors is different from what the writer imagined, and you're not allowed to stray from that, you're going to have a stilted scene. — Mark Duplass