Duplass Quotes & Sayings

I do own a unicycle, which I use for workout purposes as opposed to doing tricks. — Jay Duplass

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

You can be a lot more subtle on TV, which is funny because I feel like TV is known for being the opposite of that. The thing we experience in life is that things are not overly dramatic, and things often happen in really small ways. — Jay Duplass

The Duplass brothers do that so well - that very simple, very horrifically awkward comedy. — Timothy Simons

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

I went to film school at UT Austin. I learned a lot, and that school's good for puking up all your bad movies early and quick. But ultimately, no one can teach you to be an artist. — Jay Duplass

An interview is only as good as both parties are willing to give to the interview and that includes the interviewer. — Jay Duplass

I guess I need a hobby. Currently my primary hobby is complaining. — Jay 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

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

Mark [Duplass] is the same person that I met on day one. He's a very smart, savvy, creative guy. If you ever want a champion on your side, it's Mark. — Jackie Schaffer

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

I would have done anything. I just really love the Duplass brothers. I was at a place where I was desperate for good writing. It wasn't the part that attracted me to it; it was just to be able to work with them. And the fact that she's this kind of, like, loose cannon and this kind of desperate 40-year-old is just the icing on the cake. — Amanda Peet

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

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

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

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

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

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

Breakups usually don't happen down by the river with beautiful lighting. The moment you realize your relationship may be over might happen in Aisle 11 of Rite-Aid and the person you're with has disregarded your feelings and your needs by bringing you the wrong toothbrush again for the fourth time. — Jay Duplass

Filmmaking is a very complex form - ya know, acting, lighting, screenwriting, storytelling, music, editing - all these things have to come together. — Jay Duplass

I just did this movie with Kristin Wiig called 'The Skeleton Twins.' That's a straight drama. We play estranged twins, and I end up moving in with her and her husband, played by Luke Wilson. But it's a drama, and the Duplass Brothers produced it and this great guy, Craig Johnson, directed it. And that was great, you know? — Bill Hader

Everyone I know who is having success in film right now is there because of persistence. — Jay 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 loved movies. They inspired me more than anything growing up and wanted to do for others what those movies have done for me. I do a lot of other creative stuff but am not very good at it. — Jay Duplass

Some great actors have had substantial training and some have not. I am biased toward the well-trained theatre actor because I am passionate about theatre and the special devotion it takes to pursue that love. Oddly, there doesn't seem to be a correlation between success as a working actor and training. Mark Duplass ("The League," Your Sister's Sister) has never had a formal acting class in his life. As long as you're a good, compelling actor, you will book jobs. Actors who graduate from Julliard (Jessica Chastain) book jobs and actors who have never had an acting class in their life work regularly in both TV and film. — Cathy Reinking

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

They [Mark and Jay Duplass] both have young kids and talk about parenting all the time. So they get it. So they knew that it was a very delicate time and they knew that it was a lot. All it did was make me want to protect them from - and protect production from - any kind of burden. — Amanda Peet

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

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

It's just that the nature of being a director is being incredibly overwhelmed with getting the shots right, dealing with the locations, and then there's a two-year-old in the scene, and all that stuff - you know, there's a lot of kids in scenes ... — Jay 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

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

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 remember being in the audition with Mark [Duplass] and I remember not being able to dominate him. He's so smart and centered and grounded. I can't do what I'd normally do to someone in this situation. I can't get the upper hand in the scene. I was really impressed and excited about the possibility to work with him. — Jackie Schaffer

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

The worst question really comes from the attitude of the asker and it usually comes in the form of "What was your inspiration for the film?" — Jay 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

We don't work in the traditional TV format where we're like writing concurrently to shooting. Like, we really view it as a large feature film. — Jay 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

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

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

Mark and jay Duplass really like to improvise. Even if we beg them to go back to the script, they invariably ask us to go "off the rails," as they like to call it. It's just the way they work. You get a full written script. And it's really, really, really good, so that's why it's kind of peculiar that they always want you to improvise, because if I wrote something that good, I would want everyone to stick to the dialogue that was written. — Amanda Peet