I was a gift to my mother. She was a remarkable person. God or nature, or whatever those forces are, smiled on her, then passed me the best of her.

I have a kind of respect - a worshipful attitude, even - for nature and the natural order and the cosmos and the seasons.

My father was a certain kind of man - I saw how he treated my mother and his family and how he treated strangers. And I vowed I would never make a film that would not reflect properly on my father's name.

I sometimes like the pictures photographers take of me.

The older we get the less afraid we are.

I couldn't adjust to the racism in Florida. It was so blatant... I had never been so described as Florida described me.

I was not the kind of a principal player that was so in demand that eight or 10 or 12 scripts came per month.