I don't have any experience with film schools. I suspect that they're useless, because I've had experience with drama schools, and have found them to be useless.

The product of the artist has become less important than the fact of the artist. We wish to absorb this person. We wish to devour someone who has experienced the tragic. In our society this person is much more important than anything he might create.

War is tragedy. The great war stories are tragedies. It's the failure of diplomacy. 'War and Peace,' 'A Farewell to Arms,' 'For Whom the Bell Tolls.' Those are some of the greatest tragedies.

What I value most in my friends is loyalty.

Do not internalize the industrial model. You are not one of the myriad interchangeable pieces, but a unique human being, and if you've got something to say, say it, and think well of yourself while you're learning to say it better.

My greatest fear is that the audience will beat me to the punch line.

Let the cut tell the story. Otherwise you have not got dramatic action, you've got narration.