I'm watching 'Marty, Life Is Short' (documentary on Netflix about Martin Short), and I took some messy notes :
- “there was no expectation to be a star, no “mama I’ve made it”. There was just a mortgage, kids and I’m in the greatest profession in the world, how do I keep it going?”
- “where I like my career the least is when I feel like i feel like I’m doing something that 100 other actors could do. That’s where I feel I’m wasting my time. When I’m doing my unusual little art (and it may not be good art but it is art because it’s specific) then I’m very happy.”
- watching him trying on character voices for the mad hatter : he’s playing tennis and just plays… testing and he has some ideas and he tried them on in real life. It’s not a “office job” he doesn’t have to be there to work on it.
- “I would say my career has been 80% failure and I think those are pretty good odds” - guess I’m watching this as a way to become an adult artist and less of a good student
- “what Marty does now, he was going back then” - eugene levy about Martin short when he was a kid and a teenager
- “at that time, I did all I could do theatrically” - having a period of time where you say yes to everything that comes your way as a education in your craft and your taste
- he is best friend with Eugene Levy since forever it seems - and he joined a group of creative in Toronto (scenius) - “I don’t think you’re aware you’re in a particular group or a particular time”
- “I wanted to be Sinatra, I wanted to be a singer, an actor. But I was starting to feel like I’m behind on everyone. That I limited myself, that I’m going in a kind of circle. I don’t feel momentum” - before his big break, his friends have all been hired somewhere he did not audition for and his wife has a record deal in the states
- But : inspiration break, he was inspired by some improvisation group and that was like “of course I should be doing this” and went to Second City
- about second city : “it is the best place to learn a lot of information. But once you know it, you got to do something with it. You just can’t stay there.”
- “I think it's insane if someone says, "Oh, I had a horrible time making that movie. I hated making that movie but please let it be successful" Cause if it's only gonna be successful at the box office, that’s very unlikely. The experience you can have in your soul is the experience of doing it. Was it creative? Was it fun? Did you have fun dinners? Was the hang good?”
- organised Christmas parties where people performed. Lots of actors and comedians. Andrea Martin said she hired a vocal coach. Steve Martin spent 6 months learning a song on the banjo. I read this as “this was an occasion to learn and to grow and to have fun at the same time". Silly projects.
- “Loss is something to negotiate. It’s going to happen to all of us and we must celebrate and continue that voice and never let it go.”
- “nothing works, then something works”
- “ I like to think I was the best version of myself on the last day of my life”