Between 18 and 19 years old [in the 1950s] I came to Paris. I studied art. And that experience really did change my life. I was living hand to mouth. I walked everywhere. I thought, this city is incredible but you really have to experience it by walking it.

The entertainment person gets a certain credibility, and the politician gets a certain notoriety. I'm against it.

When I was a kid, nobody told me I was good-looking. I wish they had. I would've had a better time.

I can't watch completed films - my wife makes fun of me.

Storytelling was a way to see the world bigger than the one you were looking at, and that had great appeal for me. I think since that was part of my upbringing, it became part of me, and I wanted to pass it along to my kids and my grandkids.

Filmgoers are starved for new ideas, voices and visions.

When I grew up, shame was used as a tool for check and balance. If you stood a chance of hearing someone say, "Shame on you," or "You should be ashamed of yourself," you thought twice. It doesn't seem to be a factor today.