I have always credited the writer of the original material above the title: Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Bram Stoker's Dracula, or John Grisham's The Rainmaker. I felt that I didn't have the right to Francis Coppola's anything unless I had written the story and the screenplay.

Listen, if there's one sure-fire rule that I have learned in this business, it's that I don't know anything about human nature.

I thought I wanted to be a playwright because I was interested in stories and telling stories.

Some critics are stimulating in that they make you realise how you could do better, and those are valued.

I don't think there's any artist of any value who doesn't doubt what they're doing.

Movies are the art form most like man's imagination.

I remember growing up with television, from the time it was just a test pattern, with maybe a little bit of programming once in a while.