Westerns. A period gone by, the pioneer, the loner operating by himself, without benefit of society. It usually has something to do with some sort of vengeance; he takes care of the vengeance himself, doesn't call the police. Like Robin Hood. It's the last masculine frontier. Romantic myth. I guess, though it's hard to think about anything romantic today. In a Western you can think, Jesus, there was a time when man was alone, on horseback, out there where man hasn't spoiled the land yet.

If you're doing a biography, you try to stay as accurate as possible to reality. But you really don't know what was going on in the person's mind. You just know what was going on in the minds of people around him.

There's a lot of great movies that have won the Academy Award, and a lot of great movies that haven't. You just do the best you can.

Nobody knows diddly. They just think they do. And the people that think they know the most know the least.

Once a man has some money, peace begins to sound good to him.

Every movie I make teaches me something. That's why I keep making them.

With people in high office, the old - you go into the extreme, which is absolute power and absolute power corrupts.