No creative writer knows what is commercial and what isn't. You just write from your heart, you write from the deepest, creative urges in you, and you write from your soul, and you just either get lucky or not.

Why should I waste my good time making a straight dramatic film? The people who can't make you laugh can do that.

I realised that all one really had to do was just observe. Observe and slightly exaggerate, and you had comedy. Instead of creating a mythical premise for a stupid joke, I found playing off truth got the best result.

Creative people should always be striving, they should always be hungry, they should be looking for the next place to go.

Sir, I have seen your film and it is vulgar! Madame, my film rises below vulgarity.

If Ivan the Terrible had been kissed and loved between zero and three, he probably would have become Ivan Not So Terrible. If you're Jewish, you have a small smile on your face. Because you know the rest are wrong and you don't want to hurt their feelings.

If you're quiet, you're not living. You've got to be noisy and colorful and lively.