I think if you watch most of my films with the sound off, you could still tell what's going on.

A pitfall of making a comedy with a studio-and it's also an American cultural thing-is that I get tired of being encouraged to go always for laughs.

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

The biggest fear I have is to die with regrets, and of course that will come true.

I'm attracted to short screenplays. Nobody really wants a film to be over two hours, or at least I don't.

The kindest thing a director can do is look with open eyes at everything.

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.