Life isn't about the final moments, it's about the journey, it's about process. What makes Rocky work as a movie is seeing him working his way up from the streets to the arena and the fight of his life. You could just show that fight, and it would be great, but seeing that journey illuminates that fight and adds profound meaning to it.

You can only have one voice on set, and that has to be the director.

I also like to look at the dynamic that takes place between religion and science because, in a way, both are asking the same questions: Who are we? Where do we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going? The methodologies are diametrically opposed, but their motivation is the same; the wellspring is the same in both cases.

I like to consider my mind an open door. It's just not a revolving door.

All love is unrequited. All of it.

Half-way through any big project, everyone forgets what they're doing.

I'm a big believer in the idea that while we are the sum of our tears, we are also the product of our choices in how we deal with those tears.