I don't want to have so much humor [in films] that it undermines the jeopardy, but enough to sometime relieve tension.

When you do a studio picture, all the paperwork and legal stuff is already taken care of!

If I know what my finale is when I'm writing a screenplay, then I don't always have to chart out every scene before that. I can adequately find my way. I'm experienced enough to do that.

There are trappings of science fiction which I kind of embrace, but there are also cliches which I run from.

While you're making the film and working with the actors, if you want to have a little room to breathe and experiment and play, it grows, and you want that to happen. It's not enough to just shoot the script. You've gotta come up with new inspiration, as you shoot it. There's gotta be room for that and time for that, so it grows.

Damn, my first cut that I showed to distributors was probably about two hours and 20 minutes, even though my contract said two hours. So, I had to lose 20 minutes. It's incredible that it just keeps happening.

To come up short when you reach too far is not such a bad thing rather than not to reach at all, right?