I'm interested in stories about human beings. I don't care where or when they are set.

You can believe in originals only if you just don't know their context within literature. Certainly I believe in originality, but it lies with the teller, not the tale.

I'm usually the first guy to propose a change because I'm continuing my process. We're in a context, in this business, a context in which most screenplays work on a very modest level of achievement, in that a lot of them aren't really written by what you would call writers.

I learned my job from English dramatists. Tennessee Williams was no good for me, New York stuff was no good to me.

Casting is always subject to availabilities.

It's interesting to think that my children know more about the process than many mature critics.

Refreshing honesty has been getting me in trouble since I was five, but it's probably had some positive effects - like not being a liar.