Collaborate, don't dictate. Every department head has something to offer. Listen and gratefully accept their offerings. They're moviemakers, too.

Hollywood doesn't trust me, and we don't really mix. When a movie has stars, everything in the budget goes up, even the catering costs. I just don't like the process of having Suits all around, so I prefer casting unknowns. It adds another level of tension - you don't quite know what to expect from them. My movies don't even need that much money.

For a Catholic kid in parochial school, the only way to survive the beatings - by classmates, not the nuns - was to be the funny guy.

I also have always liked the monster within idea. I like the zombies being us. Zombies are the blue-collar monsters.

You can fall on your face easily if you go off in a certain direction. The Birds is a good example, some people are really phobic about birds flying over their heads, and some don't care. So, it's a personal thing.

Everybody knows the rules, even though some break those rules.

Anybody who tunes into Rush Limabaugh already knows what he's going to say and is already inclined to agree. So it winds up creating tribes.