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

I had a number of very strong personalities in my family. My father was a concert flutist, the solo flute for Toscanini.

A number of images put together a certain way become something quite above and beyond what any of them are individually.

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.

Being a former theater student, of course, there is a part of me that is fascinated with stage crafts and what you can do with illusions and working within the confines of the studio.

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

Art depends on luck and talent.