I am someone who takes everything very literally. I simply do not understand irony, a defect I have had ever since I was able to think independently.

If you truly love film, I think the healthiest thing to do is not read books on the subject. I prefer the glossy film magazines with their big color photos and gossip columns, or the National Enquirer. Such vulgarity is healthy and safe.

I think it is a quest of literature throughout the ages to describe the human condition.

It's funny how in the long time of me working in various countries and various situations that there is this kind of idea out in the media that I am a daredevil and that I risk the lives of everyone around me, but nobody ever gets hurt on my shoot. Some crew members sometimes, but the actors are OK.

I shouldn't make movies anymore. I should go to a lunatic asylum.

I think I'm a prudent filmmaker.

You have to be completely open to what people would tell you. You do not shape them; you do not force the materials into your ideas. You have to have all windows and doors open.