On Being John Malkovich and the cinema of the absurd, I do enjoy it. I wish there were more like it. The very fact that there can't be more like it is one of the reasons it's admirable.

Hopefully each film can be given a musical voice of its own, which is not to say that the instrumentation is always unique, but that the relationship between the sound and the image is unique.

Any film which views the darker side of life, which is death with a sense of humor, is very much to my taste.

I just love the sheer mess of New York.

I prefer a life in which we don't take ourselves too seriously.

If someone suddenly lost their director the day before shooting and wanted me to step in, I'd be willing to. But I'd do brain surgery the same way. I'm always up for something new.

I like the fact that New York looks a bit backwards, toward the Old World, rather than resolutely forwards.