It's not a filmmaker's job to explain his technique but to tell his story the best way he can.

All the theories that acting is reacting to imaginary circumstances as though they are real, and directing is turning psychology into behavior, those are all stabs at something that can't be taught. All the great actors can't talk about what they do, and they don't want to begin to talk about it. They just do it.

I love to take actors to a place where they open a vein. That’s the job. The key is that I make it safe for them to open the vein.

Jewish introspection and Jewish humor is a way of surviving . . . if you're not handsome and you're not athletic and you're not rich, there's still one last hope with girls, which is being funny.

Nerves provide me with energy... It's when I don't have them, when I feel at ease, that's when I get worried.

Directing is mystifying. It's a long, long, skid on an icy road, and you do the best you can trying to stay on the road... If you're still here when you come out of the spin, it's a relief. But you've got to have the terror if you're going to do anything worthwhile.

Being with an insanely jealous person is like being in the room with a dead mammoth.