I like voice-over in films, and most of my films have been voice-over films.

I like to think of film-making not just as an act of personal self-aggrandisement but rather as an act of public service.

Even if we die at 100, we're still dying young. I want at least 700 years. There's a lot of travelling and books to read and movies to see. I'm not going to squeeze it all in in 85 years.

I think about what movie I would like to see. I don't think of them as a correction or palliative. I certainly am irritated by anything that's shot in the Midwest and filled with these noble people. "Oh, they're so good, and they're so honest..." I'm not interested in that. I just think of what's right for a movie.

This is how good movies get made and always have: from the gut instinct of the financiers, not just by committee and research.

In a general sense, to convert any short story, novel, play, or opera into a movie, you have to re-rig it. Even though they're all narratives over time, they're very different forms.

I always wanted 'Sideways' to be like a great 1960s Italian film.