During the actual filming, I’m not really listening to dialogue. I’m watching to see if the actors are communicating something and expressing something. I’m just watching a conversation. You’re not aware of exactly what people are saying. You are aware of what they are INTENDING and what kind of feeling is going on in that scene.

People who are making films today are too concerned with mechanics - technical things instead of feeling.

When I started making films, I wanted to make Frank Capra pictures. But I`ve never been able to make anything but these crazy, tough pictures. You are what you are.

We only have two hours to change people's lives.

You can defeat fear through humor, through pain, through honesty, bravery, intuition, and through love in the truest sense.

An artist can accomplish anything provided he doesn't accept facts or defeat for more than a few minutes.

My films are expressive of a culture that has had the possibility of attaining material fulfillment while at the same time finding itself unable to accomplish the simple business of conducting human lives. We have been sold a bill of goods as a substitute for life. What is needed is reassurance in human emotions; a re-evaluation of our emotional capacities.