You can't go by what the governments say or do. It's not the governments. It's on the street where there's more hatred of Americans in Britain than in France.

I think it's helpful to aspire to make films if you feel that other people are not doing what you want to do.

I can talk about Jane Austen until the cows come home.

In my father's time - he was in college during many transitions in the late 1930s - they had great institutional loyalties... to his college, eventually the navy, the Democratic Party and certain ideals of our country. Those are the things that became broken with my generation.

For me, there's a bad year of getting started on something. You write bad stuff and it's awkward to throw it out, and you wait around to get some good ideas that maybe do come or don't come. Until eventually you get the voice and autonomy of the characters, the characters have personality, and they sort of pick up the weight and put it on their shoulders. That's when it becomes a little more fun.

For me, the present is a golden era. That's the greatest golden era. Right now. I just like pining for lost times.

We learned some bad things, and the Vietnam War led to some bad conclusions. We're not the greatest generation, that's for sure.