I'm just trying to tell a good story and make thought-provoking, entertaining films. I just try and draw upon the great culture we have as a people, from music, novels, the streets.

I knew I was never going to play professional sport, but I loved playing and I went to all the games I could afford to.

I respect the audience's intelligence a lot, and that's why I don't try to go for the lowest common denominator.

I think black people have to be in control of their own image because film is a powerful medium. We can't just sit back and let other people define our existence.

I'd like to state that Spike Lee is not saying that African American culture is just for black people alone to enjoy and cherish. Culture is for everybody.

There's an unwritten law that you cannot have a Jewish character in a film who isn't 100 percent perfect, or you're labeled anti-Semitic.

My grandmother lived to be 100 years old. Her grandmother was a slave, yet she was a college graduate in the Spellman class of 1917. She taught art for 50 years and she saved her Social Security checks for her children's education.