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

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

Kids in general make things fresh and alive and they have this great appreciation for, Holy mackerel, we're making a movie!

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.

I had a marketing idea that everybody hated, decency is sexy.

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

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.