If the movie works, nobody notices the mistakes... If the movie doesn't work, the only thing people notice are mistakes.

A director is the ringmaster of a circus that's inventing itself.

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

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.

There's nothing creative about living within your means.

To make great movies, there is an element of risk. You have to say, 'Well, I am going to make this film, and it is not really a sure thing.'