'Godfather' was very classical, the way it was shot, the style, the whole driving force of it was more classical, almost Shakespearean.

I was a pretty shy, lonely kid. I blossomed about age 17, when I went to college.

The very earliest people who made film were magicians.

I gladly, I voluntarily gave up the kind of commercial film career I had going as soon as I had enough money to finance my own films.

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.

Films and hotels have many aspects that are the same. For example, there is always a big vision, an idea.

Always make your work be personal. And, you never have to lie... There is something we know that's connected with beauty and truth. There is something ancient. We know that art is about beauty, and therefore it has to be about truth.