[Russel Crowe] has been through a lot and had a lot of success. No one knew who he was when I worked with him 12 years ago. He's just come off a great film in Australia- Romper Stomper - and so it was good to see him again. Obviously, I'd seen him since.

Dakota Fanning is a child, but she is a wonderful actor. I don't know what a child actor is. She's an actor who's a child.

Nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks. Fall forward. Every failed experiment is one step closer to success.

It's important for us to tell our stories.

As the filmmaker, yes, I have to look out for everybody. But I don't have to know everybody's approach.

When my oldest boy was about 14, I started to talk to him about some of the mistakes I made in life, just to put a few dents in that shiny armor.

I remember my mother and father arguing about light bulbs because my father thought he could save money by putting 25-watt bulbs instead of 60-watt bulbs and my mother was trying to explain to him that her children needed to learn to read so that they could go to college. He couldn't see that.