So give yourself that chance to put together the 80, 90 pages of a draft and then read it very in a nice little ceremony, where you're comfortable, and you read it and make good notes on it, what you liked, what touched you, what moved you, what's a possible way, and then you go about on a rewrite.

I was the kind of kid that had some talents or ability, but it never came out in school.

I associate my motion picture career more with being unhappy and scared, or being under the gun, than with anything pleasant.

The stuff that I got in trouble for, the casting for The Godfather or the flag scene in Patton, was the stuff that was remembered, and was considered the good work.

My film is not a movie; it's not about Vietnam. It is Vietnam.

I bring to my life a certain amount of mess.

By working in the morning, I find a sense of peace; it's isolated peace, but I can definitely be in touch with my feelings, and then I just start.