One of the other things I think that I've been able to do in my life, is to listen well

The first assistant director is just so important that the choice of that person is critical to the movie.

There are two things I will never do in my life. I will never climb Mount Everest, and I will never work with Val Kilmer again. There isn't enough money in the world.

It's very eclectic, the way one chooses subjects in the movie business, especially in the commercial movie business. You need to develop material yourself or material is presented to you as an assignment to direct.

And in Hollywood, you know, everyone is an expert. Most of them are expert editors. They can't direct, they can't write, they can't act, but, by God, they all think they can edit.

If you don't cast well, you can be in real trouble.

So I've had really great assistant directors for my last seven movies.