Listening is harder than just acting. Listening is the hardest part.

Do I have a small movie in me? Yeah, probably, when I'm 60. But I'm not Hal Ashby, I'm not Roman Polanski. I'm true to myself. Whether you like it or not.

Having love in your heart doesn't count for much if what comes out of your mouth is ugly and bigoted.

Before I did 'Rush Hour,' I was a big fan of Jackie Chan movies and I had seen all of them.

You've got to think about how to do things for the right price. You have to shoot in different places to be creative and get tax rebates.

There's no greater feeling than people coming up to me and going, "Man, my father was dying, and we went to see Rush Hour, and it was the greatest night we had in years together. We sat in that theater and we laughed for two hours without stopping. That was just a great memory that I had before my father died."

I ask my assistants if they're retarded all the time. When the camera is on you, of course, actors have the ability to make it real. For me, if I'm not talking, it is a problem. I have so much more respect for actors after being in front of the camera, and I realize that the hardest part is when you're not talking. Listening is harder than just acting. Listening is the hardest part.