Every African-American I know has two faces. There's the face that we have for ourselves and the face we put on for white America for the places we have to get to.

I was always intrigued with European cinema, and hated most American cinema. I didn't like the one, two, three - boom! style, with a neat and tidy ending. That was never my scene.

Being the first person to go to college that really related to me from the movie [The Butler] because being black and going to college everyone puts so much hope into you.

As a film director and as film actors, you get used to a certain rhythm that's slow. But with TV, it's hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry. It's a different pace. So, it's about adjusting to the pace. It's not meant for everybody.

My philosophy has always been, you don't put your name in front of a movie.

My dream is to make a Superman hero that's gay.

I can't do movies where you start thinking "Where's the commercial appeal? How are we going to market this?" It's not that kind of party.