The French have got to understand that a film is so expensive that it can no longer afford to be regional or even national in scope.

My way of remaining French was the financing scheme I used for Quest for Fire, with Fox funds, since it started as a 100% American production. The film was not in French and yet was French in style, reflecting my personality.

The French have got to understand that a film is so expensive that it can no longer afford to be regional or even national in scope.

Today's cinema is a global art form, it is impossible to make movies for a market the size of France, representing no more than 4% of the world's total.

I make movies just as painters paint: I work where I can.

When a French book becomes an international hit it is because of the author and not because of the language. The same goes for movies.

If you make a movie about Elizabeth I, how much of the dialogue is her real words? Audiences know when they go see a movie that it is fiction.