You have more and more people coming into the tent with the creative guys [on Hollywood films]. You have marketing and concept testers, advertising people. What you find gets the high numbers is easily appealing subjects: a baby, a big broad joke, a high concept. Everything is tested. The effect is to lessen the gamble, but in fact you destroy a writer's confidence and creativity once so many people are invited into the tent.

Things get very distorted when you do a movie, weirdly so.

When you produce and direct your own film you havethe somewhat consoling feeling that the producer will kill for you.

I love romantic comedy, but I think you have to have another idea that you're chasing along with romantic comedy.

I always believe you can't kill good movies, because somebody's in some room and will die unless it gets made.

I think you have a pact with an audience in every picture, and I think the pact is to try and be truthful and to be real.

Great things that can happen when you're doing a movie.