I've always thought John Travolta is one of the greatest movie stars Hollywood has ever produced.

I don't judge my characters, and that's my job not to judge them.

And by banning [smartphones] from the set, the whole crew tends to work tighter with each other. And then it just becomes a thing where people kind of fall in love with the idea, 'This is the film-industry that I signed up for! This is really wonderful.' But then they go back to another set and everybody's on their cellphone, everyone's in their own little box, and they get depressed about it.

I am not going to tell you how I believe, but I do believe in God.

I like it when somebody tells me a story, and I actually really feel that that's becoming like a lost art in American cinema.

I've always considered myself a filmmaker who writes stuff for himself to do.

I liked the Hollywood stuff. But I also liked the fact that in both, you know, I guess in the, like, the auteur, the art film auteur at that time was Lina Wertmuller. So, you go see "Swept Away" or you go see a movie she did "Blood Feud" with Sophia Loren and Giancarlo Giannini. And I remember "Wifemistress" was a big movie at that time, really liked it, Laura Antonelli.