There are many untalented people making millions of dollars in the film business.

In the case of a film like The Exorcist or To Live and Die in L.A., I saw the whole movie in my head before I went to shoot it. I never did storyboards, or anything like that. I had the film in my head.

Edgar Allan Poe is considered the great writer of horror stories, perhaps the greatest - I will say the greatest

Sure, you could go out and make Jaws today. But all of the sequels to Jaws weren't good. They are all worthless. The Godfather II is the only sequel that I have ever seen that is as good as or better than the original.

The informing idea of what you want to say and do, that's what will take you from film school to professional - the idea. That's what is original to you.

I believe it's true that there's good and evil in everyone and it's a constant struggle to have your better angels prevail.

There are certain things that happen during the production of, I think, every film, that you didn't plan, and often it's better than what you did plan. There's the question of either going with it or not.