I didn't grow up thinking of movies as film, or art, but as movies, something to do on a Saturday afternoon.

Burt Lancaster was largely responsible for me becoming a director.

And I taught acting for years, and without knowing it that was the real thing that started bending me toward directing.

Well, there's no question that a good script is an absolutely essential, maybe the essential thing for a movie.

When you spend your life acting and being other people, as opposed to being the one person that you are, you learn that life is gray sometimes, not black and white. That what you thought was true isn't necessarily true if you switch sides.

One wants to be able to experience being other people, remaking a reality, remaking a life, remaking a certain world.

I don't consider myself a teacher of moral and political positions. I don't want to be that. I can't help but have a point of view when I make a film, but my first job is to entertain you.