True movies will never be measured by how much they make - they'll be measured by how they make you feel.

I have seen soldiers panic at the first sight of battle, and a squire pulling arrows from his body to fight and save his dying horse. Nobility is not a birthright, but is defined by one's actions.

I think that you try to raise the bar on whatever you do because you know, in this day of having to deal with a lot of reality TV, people say that scripted programming is dying, so you have to try to create something that can live in people's minds, long after they see it.

My whole life has been instinctual for me. I wouldn't do well in the computer world. My children look at me for a question and then they quickly look away because they know that I'm not going to know how to make Super Mario or do anything.

Audiences trust Westerns when you hit the right tone. I think they're not in vogue, but they will always be in vogue when you hit the right note.

You're this rat in the American maze, working your way towards the cheese, which is a job.

When you try to portray people's lives, you try to make sure you don't portray them as clowns and that you give them a level of dignity. You don't try to change their persona, but you try to understand that they had unique problems, set in a century that you don't live.