The thing about movies is if somebody has an idea that works, it's in, and I say that as a screenwriter as well as a director.

I never work until I have a deadline. You have to fit so much in a given day that you just don't get serious until you know when the deadline is.

Actors are players and if they're hot, or onto something, you let them go, or you and the actor can both get on to something. I always run out with lines as I think of them.

All of a sudden I pulled up short and harked back to Ridley [Scott] holding up the script in Manhattan, at the St. Regis breakfast room, and saying, "It's very visual, isn't it," and realized it was the key to my whole life since then.

Casting is all about availability, as much as anything else.

I sound like Warhol but only because I'm tired.

When they see you get what you want and move on, quickly, you've done a contract with the crew from that point. In Britain if the sparks call you Guv on day two, you never need an award of any other kind.