With 'Avatar,' I thought, Forget all these chick flicks and do a classic guys' adventure movie, something in the Edgar Rice Burroughs mold, like John Carter of Mars - a soldier goes to Mars.

Your only competitors are your past achievements.

So much of literary sci-fi is about creating worlds that are rich and detailed and make sense at a social level. We'll create a world for people and then later present a narrative in that world.

I always do makeup touch-ups myself, especially for blood, wounds, and dirt. It saves so much time.

I like the evening in India, the one magic moment when the sun balances on the rim of the world, and the hush descends, and ten thousand civil servants drift homeward on a river of bicycles, brooding on the Lord Krishna and the cost of living.

The magic doesn't come from within the director's mind, it comes from within the hearts of the actors.

I love it when I have a nightmare to me that means I got my money's worth out of that eight hours