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.

Making films is much more difficult than people imagine, and so the experience of actually directing them is not one I've ever relished.

There isn't any question that Hollywood is profit driven. Anybody that thinks it isn't is a fool. It's a business. Hollywood was never philanthropy. The only purpose it had was making money; the only purpose it still has is to make money.

If we were a primitive society, movie stars would be gods.

I'm not a very good predictor in any area of art, particularly my own. I don't know how to evaluate that.

When you work without a script, you are in a sense working in a much more improvisational way than when you are prepared totally.

I make films, and I hope that people come to see them. If they don't, I pay a big price. But I can't make decisions where I would change my own standards or my own taste in order to court the public in some way.