I grew up in the era, 'Don't trust anybody over 30.' And, you know, I still feel that. Don't trust me.

Young people don't have a fantasy life anymore, not the way we did. All they've got is Kojak and Dirty Harry. There's all these kids running around wanting to be killer cops.

But having a really good understanding of history, literature, psychology, sciences - is very, very important to actually being able to make movies.

When my films don't work it's usually because I tried some very experimental idea. I tried new ideas and they just didn't work, as opposed to trying to do something conventional and having it be so conventional nobody wanted to see it.

The technology keeps moving forward, which makes it easier for the artists to tell their stories and paint the pictures they want.

I thought Star Wars was too wacky for the general public.

The object is to try to get the (movie) system to work for you, instead of against you. And the only way you can do it is through success, I'm afraid.