I grew up within Italian-American neighborhoods, everybody was coming into the house all the time, kids running around, that sort of stuff, so when I finally got into my own area, so to speak, to make films, I still carried on.

I would ask: Given the nature of free-market capitalism - where the rule is to rise to the top at all costs - is it possible to have a financial industry hero? And by the way, this is not a pop-culture trend we're talking about. There aren't many financial heroes in literature, theater or cinema.

I just - I kind of see it that way. I find the higher angles down. I do - look, you can go back to the staircase shots in "Third Man" or the staircase in "La Dolce Vita." So I just find that visual construction in a frame.

Being independent... is being innovative out of inspiration as well as necessity.

Eradicating a religion of kindness is, I think, a terrible thing for the Chinese to attempt.

Very often I've known people who wouldn't say a word to each other, but they'd go to see movies together and experience life that way.

A lot of what I'm obsessed with is the relationship and the dynamics between people and the family, particularly brothers and their father.