I imagine that in a closed, hermetic society like the mob, where everybody knows each other, it must be really, really unpleasant to have to kill people. It's the sort of thing you really want to avoid.

The crime film is the most honest American film.

It's a wonderful thing to go to work and have no idea what you're going to do.

Americans are not renowned for having a sense of irony.

I'm sure part of the fascination with the film is voyeuristic - that we go to see somebody who's been struck by lightning.

I'm from the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" school of screenwriting. I just like to preserve what works and ignore what doesn't work.

I'm not a very efficient filmmaker. There's a lot of guys, filmmakers like the Coen Brothers who shoot a whole movie and maybe don't use 12 setups. I'm in awe of people like that; I'm just not that guy.