I just tell you what a pleasure it is to get back to the kind of filmmaking I used to be allowed to do.

I think a story should take as long to tell as it is appropriate to that particular story.

One of my favorite movies of all time is 'It's A Wonderful Life', which is a pretty interesting choice for a seasonal Christmas favorite, because it's about a guy who wants to commit suicide and is presented with reasons not to.

The Exorcist' is amazing because it recognizes that silences can be as powerful as sound effects.

Stanley Kubrick was a big inspiration. People accuse me of never using my own material. But when did Kubrick? You look at his films and they are completely unique... completely separate entities.

Some of us have great original ideas and some of us depend on adaptations.

A director shouldn't get in the way of the movie, the story should.