Why not have a drink, you two?
If someone asks me How do you go about [creating that joke or nailing that scene]? I find it very difficult to talk about — because doing so takes away all the joy. It’s pulling that curtain back. The viewer really doesn’t want to know what went into it. That’s why I don’t like DVD commentaries. I hate those and I hate doing them because, to me, it’s taking away the magic of it all.
[Feigning a commentary] “I was so sick when I was shooting this scene, and, you know, I really had to pee. So you can see that in my face, right?”
I don’t want to hear that. I don’t want to know Meryl Streep had to pee during that scene [...] and that she was brilliant because “she just really had to pee.” So, no, I’m not a big fan of these commentaries; it’s just too much information.
– Steve Carell (with David Steinberg) on Inside Comedy
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For every one that I can think of that is good (Nolan’s on *Memento*), there are five hundred bad ones.
I typically don’t bother with them unless they’re done by a film scholar or historian, like some of the ones on Criterion discs.
Another one I liked was Emma Thompson and one of the producers on her adaptation of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY. But Emma Thompson is pretty witty in general, so that certainly helped.
I usually don’t like the ones from actors at all, so I’m with Carell on that. The worst ones I’ve ever heard are the ones on the Seinfeld discs. I think I tried listening to one years ago and was embarrassed for them the entire time. They had filmed the episode so long ago they could barely remember anything about it and there were all these long awkward pauses. No thanks.
Agreed. Emma Thompson generally makes anything better.