And he's like a laser beam. Somebody says, 'We'll probably shoot in 5 minutes.' |
Any issues my parents went through are very prominent in the movie, even though they enjoyed a happy relationship, ... The story actually started for me when my mom told me a few years ago that because she got a job, she never made it to the World's Fair in New York, and that's a missed opportunity that always stayed with her. |
Bob, the guy who did 'Big Fat Greek Wedding,' immediately saw what everybody else chose to not see. This is not a little art film. Bob said, 'This is a big commercial hit.' He realized there's something about the movie that really works. It can play everywhere. It's odd when you see the things that are most personal can end up becoming the most universal. |
Columbo. |
He is an undervalued treasure of American cinema, ... What I'm finding as we're traveling around is that everybody loves this guy. He's been so good for so long. I see it in people's faces. Women want to hug him and guys want to give him a pat on the back. I think that's one of the reasons the movie starts off so well. As soon as you see his mug on the screen, people are at ease. They go, 'I know this guy. This is comfortable.' |
He said, 'Listen, you are a very good writer.' |
He's 50 percent Peter Falk, 50 percent my own father, |
I always loved comedy, but I never knew it was something you could learn to do. I always thought that some people are born comedians ... just like some people are born dentists. |
I got the idea 20 years ago, but have to clarify to people that I wasn't writing that slowly, |
I started writing this before I had kids, |
I was having the best time of my life, |
I was visiting my parents, and I walked into a room where my father was watching a Peter Falk movie on TV, ... I think it was 'The Cheap Detective.' Anyway, my father was belly-laughing, and he never really did that. I thought, 'If Peter Falk can make my dad laugh, then I'm going to come up with a movie in which Peter Falk plays my father.' |
I'm feeling very vindicated that, when I see the audiences laughing and being moved, we were right. This movie was worth making, |
I'm not smart enough to write about something that didn't actually happen to me, ... It's not a plan. But I couldn't write a space movie if you put a gun to my head. |
If the powers that be see there is a bigger market out there, it will make it easier for the next time around. |