When I used Claudia [Cardinale] for example, in Once Upon a Time in the West, she represented the birth of American matriarchy. Because women had enormous weight in America.

America is so varied and exciting that after six months, you go back and find it completely changed.

I think politics should be expressed in this way and not in other ways. And not just politics - sentiments, even certain states of being.

I work with intuition. With interpreters. I have my own method. I know exactly what I want from actors. Sometimes, I even recite the role to the actor if it's not clear.

Cinema through spectacle, through the entertainment of spectacle, tells the story of many actual problems in life. Because who ever doesn't want to read between the lines can just enjoy the entertainment and the show and can go home happy.

I realized than an author cannot also be a producer.

I've always believed that true cinema is cinema of the imagination.