I don't want to quit. I've always said that Clint Eastwood is one of my best friends. I've known Clint for many years and we have almost a jokey relationship about retirement. I always say: "OK Clint, are you ready to retire this year?" And he always says: "No, are you?" So, I'm waiting for the phone call where Clint says he's hanging up his spurs. That's never going to happen. If it doesn't happen for Clint, it won't happen for me.

I was afraid of small spaces and I was afraid of the tree outside my window, and I had all these phobias. I think many kids have those phobias, but I probably had more than most.

I have made almost as many films in England as I have in America. I will come back to England again and again.

There were so many odd, strange things about Abraham Lincoln that I think nobody knew how to pigeonhole him.

I think every film I make that puts characters in jeopardy is me purging my own fears, sadly only to re-engage with them shortly after the release of the picture. I'll never make enough films to purge them all.

[The way Stanley Kubrick] tells a story is antithetical to the way we are accustomed to receiving stories.

The love we do not show here on Earth is the only thing that hurts us in the after-life.