To me, length is an artificial and arbitrary factor in a film.

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

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

I think once you've finished a movie you really have to detach from it so that you can come back and watch it as an audience member.

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

If you're going to succeed, you've got to be like one of those punch-drunk fighters in the old Warner Bros. boxing pictures: too stupid to fall down, you just keep slugging and stay on your feet.

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