Historically the director has been the key creative element in a film and we must maintain that. We must protect that, in spite of the fact that there is new technology that's continually trying to erode that.

The importance of the assistant director cannot be overemphasized.

I've found that the more experts you have on a movie, the less control the director has.

I think all great actors - and I don't classify myself as one of them, incidentally - but I think all great actors listen well and I've learned that from a lot of the very good actors with whom I've worked - to really listen to what people say.

I think I've made some pretty decent films in the '80s and '90s.

Casting is 65 percent of directing.

But I really am very active in the choice of the line producer with the producer of record and the distributing company, because I've had some terrible, terrible experiences with some line producers, particularly in cable.