You know, the sad thing of post-9/11, which was of course horrific, was that the city in which I felt completely at home for two decades, suddenly people like us - brown people - were looked at as the 'Others.'

You know, the sad thing of post-9/11, which was of course horrific, was that the city in which I felt completely at home for two decades, suddenly people like us - brown people - were looked at as the 'Others.'

Making films is about having absolute and foolish confidence; the challenge for all of us is to have the heart of a poet and the skin of an elephant.

My films, no one else will do.

Never treat anything you do as a stepping stone. Do it fully, and follow it completely.

Creative freedom is an imperative for me, but it doesn't really exist in a Hollywood game.

We all know the power of film; we all know there's almost nothing more powerful than to see people on film that look and talk like you, like we do.