Yes, I was hired by Universal because they needed a comedy director. They had seen Scandal and liked it. I saw an opportunity even in those comedies to begin my project of American films.

You have to think with the heart.

Intellectualism came very late to America. That's why Americans are so proud of it. I found very few real intellectuals in America. But there are so many pseudo-intellectuals.

Rock Hudson was not an educated man, but that very beautiful body of his was putty in my hands.

My idea at this time, which was slowly developing, was to create a comedie humaine with little people, average people - samples from every period in American life.

If I can say one thing for my pictures, it is a certain craftsmanship. A thought which has gone into every angle. There is nothing there without an optical reason.

I think the great artists (..) have always thought with the heart.