There are two things for a marriage to be good. One is to work hard on it. The other one is to marry above you. And I succeeded at both of those.

I've consciously taken on material that's a bit too much for me but not an overreach. The first movie, just about performances. 'The Town,' I learned how to work broader material, develop tension, direct bigger scenes, action sequences. 'Argo,' I experimented with film stock, widened the scope of my geography.

I have a good instinct for what's real and what's not. I don't have to second-guess myself.

I've finally learnt how to say, 'No comment'. To appear in the tabloids is a real learning curve and a steep one at that. You had better learn quick or you get burnt.

Anybody tells you that money is the root of all evil doesn't have any.

I thought I could rely on the plot in the novel and fill in the colour between the lines, but I made a mistake with that assumption. It was really, really hard because you pull a few things apart and then you realise how everything relies on everything else and it can all fall apart.

You wasted $150,000 on an education you could have got for a buck fifty in late charges at the public library.