All of my films have been very hard to understand at the script stage because they're very different. At the time I did them they were not conventional. The executives could only think in terms of what they'd already seen. It's hard for them to think in terms of what has never been done before.

I regret not the things I have done, only those I have yet to do.

If I make a movie that has a whole bunch of music in it, I get to listen to the music all day long, and I don't have to say, 'Well, I gotta go back to work and I gotta stop listening to the music.' I get to listen to music and go to work.

I want to live where I want to live, and I will make films because I love to make films.

If America is the pursuit of happiness, the best way to pursue happiness is to help other people.

If this were a fantasy world, there would be ten of me and we would each be doing what we wanted to do.

People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians.