Rain Man certainly didn't test really well. If you look at it carefully, you have a disease autism they didn't understand back then, they didn't know in the test audience whether it's okay to laugh or not laugh, because it's a film that's done in a way where, "Well, maybe I'm not supposed to laugh." At the end of the film, Dustin Hoffman gets on the train and doesn't even acknowledge his brother. Not even a glance, nothing. That's why the studio said, "Can't you just have him look at Tom Cruise at the end of the film?"
Barry LevinsonI don't know that you can do it as a satire. I mean, the business is crazy enough as it is. It's like doing Wag The Dog - we took a thing that was almost completely absurd on one level, and then ultimately those things came about.
Barry LevinsonI think certain movies work and that is part of the magic of it all. We can't truly define why something succeeds.
Barry LevinsonNo one really has the power, and everybody's trying to get through the day, and everybody's nervous and desperate.
Barry LevinsonSome actors are supposed to be very difficult, but I've not found that to be the situation.
Barry Levinson