Gene Wilder on His Shyness and Comedic Acting
Interviewer: Do you find that a lot of comics are basically shy?
Gene Wilder: Yes, yes, except for those who aren’t.
Interviewer: I guess what I’m getting at is very often being a comic, whether it’s a stand-up comic or comic within a movie, in a sense is very often a way to fight your own shyness.
Gene Wilder: Ya, ya, I think that was true with me a lot. Because I was very, very when I was 11, 12, 13, 14, and yet I wanted to be a comedian. I switched later on after I saw “Death of a Salesman” with Lee J. Cobb and Mildred Dunnock, I switched to wanting to be an actor and then I studied very hard, and I realized that my gifts lie in comedy, but it’s as a comic actor that I perform, not as a comedian.
Interviewer: There’s a big distinction there.
Gene Wilder: Big difference. I wouldn’t want to get up on a stage in front of 2000 people with a spotlight hitting me and be funny. But go onto a set, in a situation that’s been written, then I enjoy being funny and I’m not nervous doing it.
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DETAILS
Credit:
Editorial #:
1164980861
Collection:
Archive Films: Editorial
Date created:
29 May, 1982
Upload date:
Licence type:
Rights-ready
Release info:
Not released. More information
Clip length:
00:01:09:15
Location:
United States
Mastered to:
QuickTime 10-bit ProRes 422 (HQ) HD 1920x1080 23.98p
Originally shot on:
Betacam SP NTSC 486 29.97i
Source:
Archive Films Editorial
Object name:
c02288_05_b.mov
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