Do we root for Michael Corleone in the 'Godfather' films? I think so, even if he is a monster.

When someone is punched in the face, you find out what they are made of.

I was the little French boy who grew up hearing people talk of De Gaulle and the Resistance. France against the Nazis! Then when that boy grew up, he began to uncover things. We began to legitimately ask the question, 'What exactly did our parents do during the Occupation?' We discovered it was not the story they were telling us.

When things aren't working out, screenwriters have a tendency to say, "Go do other things," but you shouldn't do other things. You need to stay at your desk and continue to try to write. You need to insist on it.

Used properly, cinema is the coolest thing in the world.

For me, there was no great myth around the movies when I was a young child. My father was very simple about the whole thing. He did not consider cinema an art. Cinema was entertainment. Literature and music were art.

In movies, it's so easy to have this 'boom,' to kill, and I think that's inhumane.