Things come out of nowhere, and you start evaluating the director, the cast, and all those other things going into it.

The drive for happiness is vital; it's what keeps us in motion.

If people lose their land, they have nothing. You lose your land - you lose your culture, you lose self.

I've always maintained that all characters and all personalities are in all of us. The whole thing is available. You're not this or that, no one is.

It's rare that a good writer will sit down and write a good script. Writers are greedy too, and they don't want to work without getting paid. But quality will find its way out.

People have a different idea of how movies are made than they really are. On a certain level, everyone throws ideas into the hopper. It's not like the actors are wind-up dolls that you push out onto the floor, play with, then put back in the box. You get people around you who you trust; the writer, the producer, the director and all the actors all contribute.

I've lived in New York when I've had nothing, and I've lived in New York when I had money, and New York changes radically depending on how much money you have. It's the texture of life.