I'm very phobic about flying, but I'm also drawn to it.

I don't think there's a subject matter that can't absorb 3-D; that can't tolerate the addition of depth as a storytelling technique.

One of the things is that the good intentions of Prohibition, from reading over the years and from becoming obsessed with the research of gangs in New York City, seems to have allowed crime figures at the time, like Luciano, Capone, Torrio and Rothstein, to organize to become more powerful, which pulled all the way through until the '70s.

You have to put yourself in a situation, a lifestyle, that makes you do the work. Even if it's a monastery.

Death comes in a flash, and that's the truth of it, the person's gone in less than 24 frames of film.

People want to classify and say, 'OK, this is a gangster film.' 'This is a Western.' 'This is a... ' You know? It's easy to classify and it makes people feel comfortable, but it doesn't matter, it doesn't really matter.

I go through periods, usually when I'm editing and shooting, of seeing only old films.