I'm not going to be an interpreter at the U.N. I'm not going to live in Africa on a farm or whatever, but I am going to see the world through those eyes when I make those films.

You mustn't regret decisions that you make. Because the decisions are made out of your gut in a way and you have to stick with them.

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

Every film I've made has a kind of frustrated love story in the center of it. They were people who saw life from opposing points of view, which has been in every film I've ever done. It had all the ingredients of the kinds of films I like to do.

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

OK, I know this is going to disgust you, Michael, but a lot of people are in this business to make money.

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.