In the end [of the "2012"], there were no ships, no water, no nothing. Only the interiors [were real]. Everything else had to be made, and that is always challenging.

Actually, when I did "10,000 B.C.," in the middle of production, I wanted to quit my job, because everything went wrong.

I've said that "2012" was my favorite ensemble cast, because it was so evenly good.

I've had the pleasure to work with a lot of very great actors. And they're too different to say who's the best.

When we shot "Stargate," he [ Jaye Davidson] came up to me at one point and said, "I don't like shooting movies," and I said, "Why?" "Too many people stare at me." I said, "Then you're totally in the wrong business."

I'm a filmmaker, not a scientist.

Dean [Devlin, Emmerich's partner on "Independence Day"] and I always said that we'd only do it when we had a really good story that excites us both, and we have the story written. And we've had it for a year and a half, two years. So we've been ready.