"The car is a character in the piece - I've never liked the car, I submitted to it's objectionable popularity"
About this Quote
Calling the car "a character" is a sly demotion of the actor and an even sharper indictment of pop culture: the machine isn’t just a prop, it’s a co-star that steals focus because the audience insists on it. Glaser’s phrasing turns what could’ve been a standard nostalgia-friendly celebration of an iconic vehicle into something closer to a grudging workplace confession. “I’ve never liked the car” lands like a small heresy in fandom-land, where the object is meant to be beloved, merchandised, and remembered as shorthand for the entire project. He punctures that consensus without being coy about it.
The real bite is in “submitted.” He frames the car’s fame as a kind of coercion, an external pressure that even a lead actor can’t outrun. That word choice hints at the asymmetry of celebrity: the public doesn’t necessarily fall in love with your craft, or your choices, or your performance. Sometimes it falls for the chrome. The “objectionable popularity” is doing double duty, too. It suggests he found the obsession aesthetically tacky and professionally inconvenient, but also philosophically suspect: a culture that confuses speed, style, and status for substance.
Context matters: Glaser’s era of TV stardom was built on instantly legible icons, and a signature car is the most efficient icon possible. His comment reads as a refusal to romanticize the branding that helped make the show famous, even as he admits he ultimately played along.
The real bite is in “submitted.” He frames the car’s fame as a kind of coercion, an external pressure that even a lead actor can’t outrun. That word choice hints at the asymmetry of celebrity: the public doesn’t necessarily fall in love with your craft, or your choices, or your performance. Sometimes it falls for the chrome. The “objectionable popularity” is doing double duty, too. It suggests he found the obsession aesthetically tacky and professionally inconvenient, but also philosophically suspect: a culture that confuses speed, style, and status for substance.
Context matters: Glaser’s era of TV stardom was built on instantly legible icons, and a signature car is the most efficient icon possible. His comment reads as a refusal to romanticize the branding that helped make the show famous, even as he admits he ultimately played along.
Quote Details
| Topic | Movie |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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