I don't believe that Citizen Kane or Gone With the Wind, or any damn picture that you can name, would be better off in 3D. I think it's a gimmick. I find 3D distracting.

Ive never seen a more terrifying film than 'The Bababook'. It will scare the hell out of you as it did me.

I'm not a fan of Star Wars. That is not for me. That is for my nephews and nieces. I don't get it.

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.

Style is something that's extremely important, but it must grow naturally out of who and what you are and what the material calls for. It cannot be superimposed.

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.

Directing is a nice job. It's the best job for me. If I had to pay money to do it, I would do it... Directing is playing. Acting.

To me, the art of movies is to take a two-dimensional image and give the illusion of depth.

Violence is not funny.

And it was only a week later that I realized a close up of Steve McQueen was worth the greatest landscape you could find.

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

You try spending six months sitting at somebody's bedside, waiting for them to die and then tell me that the happy-ending love story isn't one of God's good gifts.

Life is a game of dreams and desires.

True leaders are like statues, whether it rains or it shines, they never bend their necks to look backwards! They never run away from challenges!

Forget the beauty, comfort, love and enjoyment. You must to be enough tough on yourself to be strong on others.

You only have the burdens on you that you choose to put there.

I think of myself as Special Forces, clearing the path for the infantry.

The stars are the apexes of what wonderful triangles! What distant and different beings in the various mansions of the universe are contemplating the same one at the same moment!

Apartheid does not happen spontaneously, like bad weather conditions.

If I can learn how to manage myself, why would I give you 20 percent and people are looking for me? It just doesn't make sense.

If I can get a day to myself, I won't answer the phone, I'll read or go for a walk. Simple, basic things. People think there's always time to do that but there isn't. Life is short.