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

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

Well, I was born and raised in the Midwest, in Indiana specifically, and my childhood was full of weekend movies, you know, the Saturday and Sunday popcorn movies.

When you make a film you usually make a film about an idea.

You are not an active creator of the film.

All films are political, whether they mean to be or not. Star Wars is political. As soon as you have conflict, which is the key to most films, you have politics. It's just that some are more artful with the handling of politics than others.

Three Days of the Condor is still an interesting film to watch not because it's political. It happens to be political. But that's not why the sales of the DVDs are as high as they are. It's because it's an entertaining thriller. In my opinion, Tootsie is a very political movie but truck drivers can go and laugh at it.