A Quote by Keenen Ivory Wayans
Comedy has a responsibility to be a voice of society, so within that, there's always going to be those that talk about those subjects and things that are going on in the world.
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I think what you are seeing is Donald Trump is making an amazing first trip. He's going to Saudi Arabia, he's going to Israel and he's going to Rome. Think about that - three of the strongest religions. He's going to go together, talk to all of them. And his message is going to be about unity. He is going to show what American leadership looks like, because those are areas of the world that have questioned it.
I always knew that someone was going to come at me with a script to play God. It's just one of those things, the way your career is unfolding and all the talk about gravitas etc etc, so I had a strong feeling that someone was going to offer me the part of God. I was totally prepared to say, 'Thanks but no thanks,' unless it was a comedy.
My wonderful editor, Jackie Onassis, asked me to write a book that I wanted to write. I said, 'Look, it's not going to be scandalized. I'm not going to talk about anybody like a dog. I'm going to say the positiveness of my life, and talk about those who have contributed to the way I've been going, and that's that.'
I have an opportunity to give a voice to those who have no voice. Even though film production wasn't a bucket list item for my life, what I have been passionate about is creating change and impacting society - especially bringing conversations forward on formerly taboo subjects.
Everybody reading the same book at the same time pulls people together. It does start a conversation. If you're going to read 'The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane,' you're going to talk about heartbreak and loss and all of those things that people don't talk about as a community.
What I've found about it is that there are some folks you can talk to until you're blue in the face--they're never going to get it and they're never going to change. But every once in a while, you'll run into someone who is eager to listen, eager to learn, and willing to try new things. Those are the people we need to reach. We have a responsibility as parents, older people, teachers, people in the neighborhood to recognize that.
I'm always thinking about that young girl or young boy who doesn't quite know if their music, their messaging, their imaging, their voice is going to pop, if people are going to understand them. So I represent the other and those who feel like they don't even want to be normal. They embrace the things that make them unique.
You have to realise that everyone that you are working with is important. It doesn't matter where you are starting from; you are always going to run back into those people, and they are going to talk, and that's going to be the base of whether you get good opportunities or not.
I think the misconceptions, there are certain people that are fixed in those with those beliefs, and been in those for twenty-five years, you're not going to change them.... What you've got to do is basically talk to the future about what you want to with the country.
I'm not going to be an interpreter at the U.N. I'm not going to live in Africa on a farm or whatever, but I am going to see the world through those eyes when I make those films.
I am sure there's going to be times when I do things wrong that no one's going to like and everyone's going to think I'm terrible and rubbish but I know I'm going to go through those times, and it's just about understanding that that's going to happen.
Don't think about what the market's going to do; you have absolutely no control over that. Think about what you're going to do if it gets there. In particular, you should spend no time at all thinking about those rosy scenarios in which the market goes your way, since in those situations, there's nothing more for you to do. Focus instead on those things you want least to happen and on what your response will be.
The importance of rehearsal is maybe you want to talk about how the scene's going to be designed, how it's going to be staged, all of those things. It's all about preparation, and deciding what mutually you don't want to do, rather than necessarily what you do.
When I was going through all the divorce things, that was really hard to discuss, because nobody wants to talk about their failures. Nobody wants to talk about how painful those kinds of things are.
You're going to have twenty years as host of the 'Today Show,' and eighteen of those years are going to be so unbelievably fantastic that you're going to think you're living in a fantasy world. And one or two of those years is going to be incredibly frustrating and challenging.
Going to where the silence is. That is the responsibility of a journalist: giving a voice to those who have been forgotten, forsaken, and beaten down by the powerful.
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