I think you can maintain two tracks. I think you have to. That's what this kind of filmmaking is about. If you're not aware of the limitations of what you're up against... it's like a general: you have to know your artillery and you have to know your infantry. You have to know what you have. You have to marshal your forces and use them well. It comes down to the personal and the intimate, but at the same time you have to have the big picture.

A lot of the good cameraman who we used are doing television work; they're doing commercials for a lot of money. And the commercials look incredible. But what's it about? I made three major commercial campaigns. I enjoyed it, I experimented with it, and at the end of the day I felt no satisfaction. It was like having a fast food lunch.

I'm a history person; I love history. But I am conditioned by the present.

I never put out a history, I put out a dramatic history.

I like automatic weapons. I fought for my right to use them in Vietnam.

People are still living in the moment, and they feel the passion of now.

Pat Nixon was called the Mona Lisa of American politics. She never wrote anything. Her interviews tell us nothing.