A movie is made for an audience and a film is made for both the audience and the film-makers.

We live in a silly time, and people go to the movies to see something that they haven't seen before, and you have to promise to show them that. In a horrible way, you have to promise them a special effect.

You’ll find that the movie business is paid for by those mega movies. The movie business is paid for by Big Macs. By movies as product. Movie studios use that term “product” all the time. Product? You mean you have a lot of stories? No, we have a lot of product. You have stories.

Take ownership of every decision you make because you will be hold responsible for the film, whether good or bad.

I don't have the Tom Hanks fans. When you make the kind of movies I make, you get weird letters from people.

Movies aren't finished, they're abandoned. And you have to make your peace with that.

I want people to flourish. I want them to walk away from the experience going, "That's what it should be like."