Ultimately, you have to pursue your own path, not someone's idea of the right path. You need to stay on your path.

I wouldn't take a directing job if I didn't think it was enriching life.

Advice is a form of nostalgia.

In this country, particularly, actually in times that are difficult, or from corners of America where you least expect it, unbelievable pure creativity has welled up. Generally because of the cross-fertilization... a Scott Joplin tune becomes jazz, becomes blues, and becomes rock 'n' roll.

Fitzgerald coined the phrase the 'Jazz Age,' and now we're living in the Hip-Hop Age.

When I was growing up you would see big American films that really mythologised their landscape, that really showed the vastness and the drama of their country.

In 1977, hip-hop literally wasn't outside the boroughs. But I was profoundly aware of the city through films like Saturday Night Fever, The French Connection, and Network. I had a friend who visited New York, and I asked him what it was like. He said, "Oh, it's great. Just wear a coat and don't look anyone in the eye."