This is not a movie about smelling the urine! It's another kind of movie." Volker Schlöndorff got Billy Wilder to agree to these conversations - you can buy it - because Volker spoke German at times. And he said to Billy Wilder: "What is in your mind?" And he said: "If you're going to try to tell the truth to the audience, you'd better be funny or they'll kill you." And I haven't forgotten that.

It's true what they say about failure. You don't learn from success.

Lightbulbs die, my sweet. I will depart.

But I would reinvent myself if I could. As a sexy leading man! We all would like that, but I don't know how to.

We need to band together as a unit every day, especially to conquer the strength of the AIDS virus.

I'm sixty-eight, I cry every chance I can.

I think one of the things you have to be aware of as an actor is that if you come on the set and see the director standing there mouthing all the words while a scene is going on, that's usually a very bad sign because it means the director has already shot the scene in his head. He knows exactly the rhythm and the nuances that he wants delivered in the line and you're not going to dissuade him.