Pauline Kael had seen Nashville, and she loved Nashville. When I called her, she immediately responded to me because we had become friends, and I told her how great this film was, and she told me, "Well, I'll have to see it for myself." So I showed it to her, and she flipped.

I am humble. It was an honor, and I cried the first time I saw the film His Way. Because to have people of that caliber, like Julia Roberts, take the time to sit down and give a day or two of their lives to a film about me, that they're not getting paid for, is pretty extraordinary.

Relationships are the only thing that matter in business in life.

George Clooney says that I'm "the last of your kind." That's a nice quote. I kind of like that quote. I'm a guy who shakes your hand and will never let you down. I have a code of honor and I don't lie. I have a code of honor about life and that's what he meant. And you don't need a contract with me.

Talented people have to do what they do. Someone can criticize but you do what you do.

I know everybody. I make friends easily. I'm a gregarious guy, I'm open, I'm easy to get to know - I don't lock myself in an ivory tower. So I like people; I enjoy people.

As my life went on and I met Frank Sinatra and people like that, and I watched live performers on stage, I learned how to tell a story. Because if you listen to Sinatra, all of his songs are stories; there's a beginning, middle, and end. So that's where it comes from.