If Gary Cooper and Henry Fonda had a baby, it would be Matthew Modine.

Everything has already been done. every story has been told every scene has been shot. it’s our job to do it one better.

Chess teaches you to control the initial excitement you feel when you see something that looks good and it trains you to think objectively when you're in trouble

When I made my first film, I think the thing was probably helped me the most was that it was such an unusual thing to do in the early 50s for someone who actually go and make a film. People thought it was impossible. It really is terribly easy. All anybody needs is a camera, a tape recorder, and some imagination.

No philosophy based on an incorrect view of the nature of man is likely to produce social good.

It's impossible to tell you what I'm going to do except to say that I expect to make the best movie ever made.

A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction.