'Baahubali' has definitely increased hopes for a lot of regional filmmakers. After all, what I have learnt is that it only takes one 'Baahubali' to enter into the audience's hearts and cross the boundaries.
It's fun because you can escape and learn about what other people's minds have created. It inspires you to think maybe you could come up with a creature yourself. I like that.
How often do you get a movie where the coolest character has your own real last name? I played Bob Morales as a cross between my own father - the passion, the fury - and the real Bob Morales. I loved that movie. People, kids always come up to me and tell me how much they still love 'La Bamba.'
It's hard to find a book that's safe to write. Because one always goes to dark or difficult places.
We learn best - and change - from hearing stories that strike a chord within us.
'The West Wing' was an incredible, inspiring show - and one of the reasons I wanted to be a speechwriter.
I feel like, in a lot of ways, 'Hidden Figures' is the book that I wrote and have been waiting to read since I learned to read.
The love and support from the Witches of East End fans continues to blow us away and renews our faith that storytelling matters, strong female characters matter, and messages about faith and hope matter. I love this family. I love this story. And to be part of a show that has inspired and touched so many people's hearts is a true blessing.
After watching 'Stanley ka Dabba,' I just told myself that the one guy I have to work with is Amol Gupte. The reason being, his films are very simple and they create such a magical world around.
My favorite filmmaker is Frank Capra. He talked about the redemption of the human spirit - not the superhero, but the common man.
I believe that any type of education can be great, but an education about ourselves can create something wonderful. I am a comedian, but people have called me a motivational speaker. I don't really consider myself that at all.
The truth is, after Boys Don't Cry, I realized how few and far between the great roles are. I am beyond thankful for finding Million Dollar Baby.
I try to play real people who inspire me through something in their journey.
The experience on that movie (Dead Poets Society) was, for lack of a better term, life-altering. Peter Weir has a unique talent for making movies that are intelligent but also mainstream. I've never been terribly successful at doing that.
For 120 minutes, 'Birdman' floats from comedy to surrealism to high drama to quiet brilliance. I felt so inspired by watching this movie. It reaches for the sky and never comes back down to earth.
In my stories for children, I sometimes show a hard, harsh, dangerous world. I'm going to show you the way it is, but I'm going to also tell you that there's every reason to hope.
A story must be told in such a way that it constitutes help in itself. My grandfather was lame. Once they asked him to tell a story about his teacher. And he related how the holy Baal Shem used to hop and dance while he prayed. My grandfather rose as he spoke, and he was so swept away by his story that he himself began to hop and dance to show how the master had done. From that hour he was cured of his lameness. That's how to tell a story.
I'm always trying to convince myself there's something important about what I do. But some peoples' lives are really altered by a night at the theater.
I think people in the future will come up to me and say, "Everything that you are and everything that you have is because of that butler [film]." Of course, that's Oprah's line from the movie, but I think it will resonate with my legacy with the movie.
With a purposeful story, you can change a "wanna be" to a "gonna be" to a "be".
J. K. Rowling has already got a whole generation reading.
My hope is that this movie will affect people on a very profound level and reach them with a message of faith, hope, love and forgiveness.
I talk to people and show 'em how to solve their problems and stop sitting around and complaining. So I just give people little T-isms, so that when they hear my story they know where I'm coming from and that I'm real.
I believe in heaven more than hell, lessons more than jail. In the ghetto, let love prevail with a story to tell. My eyes see the glory, and well, The world waiting for me to yell, "I Have A Dream!"
I really want to be the black Mr. Rogers - that's my goal. I would do everything the same but with a hip-hop feel to it.
