I think Hollywood has a class system. The actors are like the inmates, but the truth is they're running the asylum.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that while actors may seem confined by the industry, they actually hold significant power and influence within it.
In this quote, Robert De Niro compares Hollywood to a classical asylum where the actors, who appear to be restricted or controlled, are actually the ones in charge. The metaphor highlights the paradox of how those who seem to be seen as mere performers within the industry possess the authority and creativity that drive the entire system of filmmaking. This statement prompts us to reconsider appearances of power and control in any hierarchical structure.
In practice
In a conversation about the entertainment industry, one might quote De Niro to illustrate how actors influence film production.
You never know what you do that could be totally out of left field, which actually might work and give something fresh to the whole scene, to the character, whatever. If you have that with a director who then knows how to shape it, either in the direction, in the moment, or in the editing, then that's good.
I spent lunchtime in a grave during the filming of 'Bloody Mama.' When you're younger, you feel that's what you need to do to help you stay in character. When you get older, you become more confident and less intense about it - and you can achieve the same effect.
The mind of a writer can be a truly terrifying thing. Isolated, neurotic, caffeine-addled, crippled by procrastination, consumed by feelings of panic, self-loathing, and soul-crushing inadequacy. And that’s on a good day.
If you're an actor, always be true to your character. If you are not an actor, have character and always be true to yourself.
The Self of everyone, the Atma of everyone, the transcendental field of reality of everyone, is the same in everyone. Whether the body calls itself an American, German, Indian or Chinese, it doesn't matter.
There's always a sense that people will do things quite differently if they think they have privacy.
Politics disappears; it vanishes. What remains constant is human life. So I try to develop a perspective in my writing where politics is just one of the pieces of furniture in this furnished world. It is not the purpose. It is not the goal.
People who get nostalgic about childhood were obviously never children.
A city with all the personality of a paper cup. (On Los Angeles)
Grief does not seem to me to be a choice. Whether or not you think grief has value, you will lose what matters to you. The world will break your heart. So I think we’d better look at what grief might offer us. It’s like what Rilke says about self-doubt: it is not going to go away, and therefore you need to think about how it might become your ally.
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