You look at war as something that is putting your best friend in jeopardy. You are responsible for the person in front of you and the person behind you, and the person to the left of you and the person to the right of you.

My early exposure to all the leviathans of the Saturday matinee creature features inspired me, when I grew up, to make 'Jurassic Park.'

All those horrible, traumatic years I spent as a kid became what I draw from creatively today.

I've got a lot of examples about moments where I thought something would work on film and it didn't work, but I never came to that decision with the film half shot, where I was stuck on a runaway train and couldn't jump off. On those occasions where I have admitted defeat, that this is not going to work, I haven't embarked on that project and made that movie.

The best time of my life has been the three instances where I have been there for the birth of my children. That is, nothing [else] has ever come close.

I think all directors should be animators.

I've always been interested in how we survive and how resourceful we are as Americans.