I grew up in the Lower East Side, an Italian American - more Sicilian, actually.

I loved the idea of seeing the world through a boy's eyes.

When I was growing up in the mid-'50s, the Roaring Twenties were a huge part of the culture. There were a number of films and a bunch of television shows that dealt with the mythology of the underworld from that period.

It did remind me of something out of Greek mythology - the richest king who gets everything he wants, but ultimately his family has a curse on it from the Gods.

I think all the great studio filmmakers are dead or no longer working. I don't put myself, my friends, and other contemporary filmmakers in their category. I just see us doing some work.

My whole life has been movies and religion. That's it. Nothing else.

People have to start talking to know more about other cultures and to understand each other.