I always take the audience into account.

It's only a movie, and, after all, we're all grossly overpaid.

Drama is life with the dull bits left out. There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it. I believe in putting the horror in the minds of the audience, and not necessarily on the screen. The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.

San Francisco would be a good location for a murder mystery.

In the old days villains had moustaches and kicked the dog. Audiences are smarter today. They don't want their villain to be thrown at them with green limelight on his face. They want an ordinary human being with failings.

The paperback is very interesting but I find it will never replace the hardcover book - it makes a very poor doorstop.

To me Psycho was a big comedy. Had to be.