People must not think that all bad in man which is unleashed, the moment you impose censorship disappears from man.

You really see life around the principals to be as important as the main, principal actors. That's what cinéma vérité taught me - that it's not a question of having a main character, a great actor, and the rest is unimportant. Every detail, every face in the crowd is important.

Communists love to make films about composers, because composers compose music and don't talk subversive things.

When I came for the first time to the United States, visiting, I was absolutely fascinated by New York.

You know what happened, you know, in 1938: France, England, you know, just sold out Czechoslovakia to Hitler.

Because I just loved to spend two years of my life in the company of Andy Kaufman and other characters.

People who make documentaries have to be faithful to the facts. But when you are making a drama, a fiction based on the life, all you have to be faithful to is the spirit of the facts, which I think I was in every case. As long as you don't violate their spirit, you can play with the facts.