I'm sure some people will say, 'Why do this?' And my response is, 'Why wouldn't you?' The film business in general is using a model that is outdated and, worse than that, inefficient.

I think I'm good at amplifying an actor's strengths, and minimizing their weaknesses. And they all have strengths and weaknesses.

When a film like Chris Nolan's Memento cannot get picked up, to me independent film is over. It's dead.

To me the director’s job is to leave it in better shape than you found it, literally.

If you're sitting around thinking what other people think about your work, you'll just become paralysed.

We [people] are a species that's wired to tell stories. We need stories. It's how we make sense of things. It's how we learn.

I want to thank anyone who spends part of their day creating...anybody who spends part of their day sharing their experience with us-I think this world would be unlivable without art and I thank you.

You’re supposed to expand your mind to fit the art, you’re not supposed to chop the art down to fit your mind.

There are three major social issues that this country is struggling with: education, poverty, and drugs. Two of them we talk about, and one of them we don't.

What are the stories you want people to tell about you?

The ought to be a worldwide cultural taskforce that just stops you when you have ideas like combining The Red Desert with an armored car heist movie.

Without an element of vulgarity, no man can be a work of art...I have to try and think what an artist is, apart from a hooligan who cannot live within his income of praise.

Festivals are great because you get to just walk around the corner and see a new band that you've heard but not had the chance to check out.

Our alliances and partnerships are not directed against any nation.

An advocate who has been well paid in advance will find the cause he is pleading all the more just.

I'm quite arty. I didn't know whether to become an artist or musician but I realised I could paint with music. All my songs have colours.

I like the idea of growing old gracefully and full of wrinkles... like Audrey Hepburn.

Spirituality dawns when individuality vanishes. When our ego becomes aware of something that is higher than it - the individual Spirit, or Soul; then spirituality dawns.

I come from more of a sculptural background so I think of the form before anything else.

The idea is that the state doesn't have rights to limit individuals' wants and passions. I disagree with that.

For the life of the believer, one thing is beautifully and abundantly true: God's chief concern in your suffering is to be with you and be himself for you.