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

The people that really pass judgment on you really have nothing to do with what you do, usually.

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.

Everybody's a filmmaker today.

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.

The filmmakers always have a great level of control.

I mean, the old film critics just excoriated me.