There is a certain kind of respect for authenticity today that there wasn't back in the days when they did 'Cleopatra,' where everything looked like a giant motel. People want to have it be authentic in the look, and authentic in the way people behave.
I've always been able to survive by writing, though.
I mean, the old film critics just excoriated me.
A lot of people thought of me as a threat to Western civilization.
Films are always pretentious. There's nothing more pretentious than a filmmaker.
To be a good executive you have to be strong, and you have to have a simple attribute that people have forgotten about - courage.