You know very well that unless you're a scientist, it's much more important for a theory to be shapely, than for it to be true.

There is a sort of theory that you should adapt bad books because they always make more successful films.

You know very well that unless you're a scientist, it's much more important for a theory to be shapely, than for it to be true.

I like L.A., but I think whats changed is that the kinds of films I do, the mid-range dramatic film, has become an endangered species.

I became a virtuoso of deceit. It wasn't pleasure I was after, it was knowledge. I consulted the strictest moralists to learn how to appear, philosophers to find out what to think and novelists to see what I could get away with.

I find I have to give myself a day when I just shut myself off and do nothing but read.

If you take a really good book, then the potential is for a really good film. But you've got to get it right.