Two things form the bedrock of any open society - freedom of expression and rule of law. If you don't have those things, you don't have a free country.

The only privilege literature deserves - and this privilege it requires in order to exist - is the privilege of being in the arena of discourse, the place where the struggle of our languages can be acted out.

I've never read anything so badly written that got published. It made 'Twilight' look like 'War and Peace.'

My love for Dan Brown knows no bounds. It literally has no mass.

I'm not a very big fan of 'Slumdog Millionaire.' I think it's visually brilliant. But I have problems with the story line. I find the storyline unconvincing.

When you are making an independent film, money is never an issue.

Perhaps because my relationship with my father went through such a long, bumpy time, it's been very important for me to work to try to keep lines of communication open between my sons and myself to try to avoid my father's mistakes. At least if you're making mistakes, make different mistakes.