Explore popular quotes and sayings by a Canadian actor Eugene Levy.
Last updated on December 21, 2024.
Eugene Levy is a Canadian actor and comedian. From 1976 until 1984, he appeared in the Canadian television sketch comedy series SCTV. He has also appeared in the American Pie series of films and the Canadian sitcom Schitt's Creek. He often plays flustered and unconventional figures. He is a regular collaborator of actor-director Christopher Guest, appearing in and co-writing four of his films, commencing with Waiting for Guffman (1996).
I would love to work with Sir Anthony Hopkins. How and why that would happen in a comedy I'm not sure - why he would be dragged over to my side, or I'd be be dragged over to his side.
In ten minutes, I'm thinking, 'OK, you know what? I love these guys. They're really smart, they're really good, they've got a good sense of comedy, under their guidance, I think maybe this could come out OK.' But I didn't like the part.
I can't do comedy that is cutting and vicious. If I knew I'd said something that was going to make someone feel bad, well, that supersedes everything.
One of the biggest misconceptions about me is that I'm a comedian, which I'm not. A comedian is someone who can stand up in front of an audience and make you laugh. I've never done stand-up and I never will. I'm a comic actor. My comedy comes through my characters.
We went through all the scenes and they became kind of funny and they expanded a little bit and because it seemed to be working so well in the movie, they added a couple of things later on in the movie and that's how it turned out.
But I've never really done anything that implies any kind of danger. I wouldn't skydive, I wouldn't deep sea dive, I wouldn't parachute. I think you're really just rolling the dice. Who packed your chute the night before?
I really enjoyed working on 'Dumb & Dumberer' with Cheri Oteri, maybe because we are both into improvisations. We were meant to act together.
At the end of the day, the numbers that we're hearing are not going to be totally correct or not correct at all.
The greatest thing about doing this movie was that Chris and I both were involved in folk music in the '60s. I had a group, but I don't think it was at the same level as Chris, because he's an amazing musician.
I think I'm the only actor in the history of film who got to slap Sam Jackson on the face and butt and lived to tell about it.
I am the common man. I'm polite, I love my family and I play by the rules. And sometimes I get pushed around. That's my lifestyle, and that's what I try to bring to characters.
I'm not a joke guy; I'm not a stand-up comic.
I don't believe I've ever played a hip dude. I don't think I would have the wherewithal to do that.
At the end of the day, even if my part is a bit goofy, the key thing is that I'm doing what I love to do, and that's to make people laugh.
This was more of a cartoonish thing for me and it kind of took me back to SCTV, in a way, where the characters are just a little broader and you can have that kind of fun going a little over the edge.
I love comedy. Playing the underdog, and getting the laughs is my form of entertainment. I could think of nothing different that I would want to be doing at this time in my life.
I like to have a regimen. I don't like to be fancy free.
Detroit is still seen as the tough city, a city that has a reputation for high crime, ... The tough city thing is fine. Its always had a reputation as that. ... You know, Gordie Howe, when I was watching hockey, was the toughest guy in the league playing for the Red Wings. He represented that tough aura.
American Pie' was a big movie for me. No one knew it at the time, but it allowed me to be offered such movies as 'Like Mike' and 'New York Minute' with the Olsen twins
I'm not in a situation where you get a thousand scripts. You want to make a living, you want to put your kids through school. I'd rather do three bad films that pay well than do one good film every three years that doesn't pay well. ... To me, if you can get a steady check in this business, you're doing okay.
I don't consider myself, you know, in real life one of those funny guys. My comedy comes through my work.
I'm not a comedian. I don't do stand-up. I don't tell jokes. I'm a comedic actor, and approach my work that way. The comedy comes through the character.
I let the comedy come through the character and just try to make sure that everything is kind of rounded in a truth, in a reality, because that's what I need to make a character work.