I suppose when I started out I would have liked to have been the darling of critics or something, but everybody wants to be loved and admired.

I'm the barbarian of Hollywood.

I also thought of myself as the Sonny Barger of the film industry.

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.

Films are always pretentious. There's nothing more pretentious than a filmmaker.

I've always had trouble with authority.

A lot of directors don't know what they want to do. Every director I've seen that was a good director that I've admired knew exactly what he wanted to do. They didn't sit there and think about it.