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

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.

I think it is a mistake to identify a movie according to its language, as if movies were literature.

When Americans shoot movies they aim at the entire planet. When the French make movies, they aim at Paris.

I had to choose between American and British actors, and it didn't take me more than a second to decide: Russians are Europeans and should be played by other Europeans.

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.