I was on cruise control from '85 to '95, and it was my fault. There were a lot of self-inflicted wounds, when I was not doing any original material. I wasn't directing. I wasn't writing. That's not who I am.

I feel that America is like a child that grew up so strong and so fast and so tall that it became self-conscious about its size and started to stoop over so as not to offend anyone.

A lot of guys have muscles. A lot of strong men in this world. I think it's important to show that even under all this strength there's a fragile side, a side that can be affected.

The only thing that I haven't done is perform brain surgery on myself. I've been very, very lucky. I've spared Shakespeare undue stress by not doing that.

I don't fall into the physical manifestation of a man of letters. So I guess people assume the scripts are delivered to me under the door.

On the sequel, you've lost the element of surprise. Usually, on the first one you may not go very, very deep into character; the second one you start to explore the character a bit more.

Movies are a collective art. Art by proxy.