I totally related to Cole Porter's magnetic pull to any piano that was in the room, which he was famous for doing, as was Gershwin. You couldn't drag them away from a piano.

Nothing makes an actor feel freer and more inventive and more creative than being trusted.

I've done a couple of movies for scale, and it's the only way to get a lot of these independent movies made. The actors negotiate deals where they're given just enough money to live on during the filming, but then they participate in the back-end. If the movie suddenly makes a gazillion dollars, we'll participate in that profit.

I've got the Jewish guilt and the Irish shame and it's a hell of a job distinguishing which is which.

I'm a real pushover for animals.

Well, the whole trick to doing an independent film, is to keep great pace and momentum. You're shooting maybe three times as many scenes in one day that you would on a big, luxurious budget on a luxurious schedule, and you try not to sacrifice quality for that. Things are just compressed, but essentially the same.

I like variety, which is frustrating. But I've always been picky. I was afraid Pirates would be too much like Twentieth Century, broad comedy. But my agent talked me into it. I was spoiled by the range of a repertory theater.