You can mostly forget ethnic or religious differences. The competition for a bigger share of the oil proceeds is behind much of the fighting

We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented.

You look at a guy like Lance Armstrong, and you have to be inspired. I sat next to Kirk Douglas the other day, and he's inspiring for fighting through his stroke

There's always a reaction based on fear. People assume if you're criticizing a decision to go to war, then you're saying something against the soldiers-which is not the case

I had some really dear friends who died from AIDS-one in particular. His family wasn't around and he didn't have many friends. I spent a lot of time with him in his later days.

When Bush first got elected, the very first time there was talk of going to war with Iraq, the mainstream media gave his position total credibility. I didn't get it then, and I don't get it now

You get three hours' sleep and then you start all over again. Relentless. Pre-production was almost harder than filming. I was all over the city every day. It was really exhausting.