The idea that all violence in movies is okay simply because it happens is bull. Directors and writers have a responsibility.

We tell myths over and over again, lest we forget who we are, lest we not understand that these tales take us through the darkness of our lives, and they put us into a place where you understand what it is to be human.

I'm not going to spend two years on a film or four years on an opera if I don't feel like I can put my own self into it. That doesn't mean it has to be about myself.

When I was growing up, there were a lot more arts in the public schools. Politically, America has screwed up on that.

I think we all see the world from our own little unique bubble.

An artist is an entertainer, number one - a storyteller who takes people someplace, who gives them what they didn't know they wanted.

You know, I went to Oberlin. At that time, grades were - you elected to have them or not. It was all of that era where grades were out the window. But I did very well in school. I didn't really study the arts; I practiced the arts.