There can't be art without risk. It's like saying No Sex, and then expecting there to be children.

The photographer and the director are where reality and fantasy meet.

I know that if a film is ready to emerge out of what I write, I'll be able to go off and make it without asking anyone's permission.

I'm no longer dependent on the movie business to make a living. So if I want to make movies as other old guys would play golf, I can.

Everyone knows the phenomenon of trying to hold your breath underwater - how at first it's alright and you can handle it, and then as it gets closer and closer to the time when you must breathe, how urgent the need becomes, the lust and the hunger to breathe. And then the panic sets in when you begin to think that you won't be able to breathe - and finally, when you take in air and the anxiety subsides...that's what it's like to be a vampire and need blood.

I bring to my life a certain amount of mess.

I wrote the script of Patton. I had this very bizarre opening where he stands up in front of an American flag and gives this speech. Ultimately, I was fired. When the script was done, they hired another writer and that script was forgotten.