We can't help identifying with the protagonist. It's coded in our movie-going DNA.

We all are born with a certain package. We are who we are: where we were born, who we were born as, how we were raised. We're kind of stuck inside that person, and the purpose of civilization and growth is to be able to reach out and empathize a little bit with other people. And for me, the movies are like a machine that generates empathy. It lets you understand a little bit more about different hopes, aspirations, dreams and fears. It helps us to identify with the people who are sharing this journey with us.

I will one day be thin, but Vincent Gallo will always be the director of The Brown Bunny.

Someone once said the fundamental reason we get married is because have a universal human need for a witness.

If you pay attention to the movies they will tell you what people desire and fear. Movies are hardly ever about what they seem to be about. Look at a movie that a lot of people love, and you will find something profound, no matter how silly the film may be.

It does seem true that a lot of people will do anything, however humiliating, for fame.

Many really good films allow us to empathize with other lives.