I realize I am contradictory: I have an independent filmmaker's sensibility and a Hollywood director's short-attention span.

It's better to find a stunt person who can act. It's easier to do that than to find an actor who can do a stunt.

I think making a great action movie is one of the hardest cinematic endeavors. By definition, smart characters avoid action. Smart people don't go down dark alleys, but if you're making an action movie and you want to have an action sequence, somehow you have to get that character into that dangerous situation.

When I was shooting 'The Bourne Identity,' I had a mantra: 'How come you never see James Bond pay a phone bill?' It sounds trite, but it became the foundation of that franchise.

In movies, you can basically buy the audience into the theater. If you spend enough money on visual effects, even if you are lacking in story and character, you might still pull it off.

It's much easier to do a fight sequence between two people, if one of the two people in the fight is a stunt person, or you're going to risk somebody getting hurt.

In the real world, if you're in a car chase, you're going to hit a million things and your car is going to end up a total wreck by the end.