The whole notion of journalism being an institution whose fundamental purpose is to educate and inform and even, one might say, elevate, has altered under commercial pressure, perhaps, into a different kind of purpose, which is to divert and distract and entertain.

My mind gets into a verbal mode.

I think theater ought to be theatrical ... you know, shuffling the pack in different ways so that it's -- there's always some kind of ambush involved in the experience. You're being ambushed by an unexpected word, or by an elephant falling out of the cupboard, whatever it is.

One of the nice things about the world of filmmaking is that you make friends in the business.

No matter how imperfect things are, if you've got a free press everything is correctable, and without it everything is concealable.

Be happy -- if you're not even happy, what's so good about surviving?

It was a different planet in 1967, the Broadway theatre. It had a little ashtray clamped to the back of every seat and the author got 10% of the gross.