The animal has no intellectual capacity to justify or to find reasons to exist. An animal just exists because it's the natural thing to do.

Like, I took no poetic license with 'Schindler's List' because that was historical, factual documents.

When my children were born, I made the choice I wanted them to be raised as Jews and to have a Jewish education.

Making a movie is like a stagecoach ride through the Old West: at first you wish for a pleasant trip, and after a while you just hope you reach your destination.

I really trust the authenticity of real people and my job is to get them to be themselves in front of the camera. Often what happens is, you'll get a newcomer in front of the camera and they'll freeze up or they imitate actors or other performances that they've admired and so they stop becoming themselves. And so my job as the director is just to always return them to what I first saw in them, which was simply an uncensored human being.

People have forgotten how to tell a story.

I think that is the secret of great acting. You have to bring your imagination to the party. You've got to have a great imagination.