Music is a big factor in helping the illusion of the film come to life. The same way music brings back different periods of our lives.

I think cinema, movies, and magic have always been closely associated. The very earliest people who made film were magicians.

When I was about 9, I had polio, and people were very frightened for their children, so you tended to be isolated. I was paralyzed for a while, so I watched television.

An essential element of any art is risk. If you don't take a risk then how are you going to make something really beautiful, that hasn't been seen before?

I used to love going into local hardware stores, to look at little things they made locally. Nowadays it's harder, though you can still do it in Vietnam.

I had an older brother who was very interested in literature, so I had an early exposure to literature, and and theater. My father sometimes would work in musical comedies.

There's nothing creative about living within your means.

Anything you build on a large scale or with intense passion invites chaos.

We were raised in an Italian-American household, although we didn't speak Italian in the house. We were very proud of being Italian, and had Italian music, ate Italian food.

You don't have to specialize - do everything that you love and then, at some time, the future will come together for you in some form.

If the movie works, nobody notices the mistakes... If the movie doesn't work, the only thing people notice are mistakes.

Don't ask creator to guide your footsteps if you're not willing to move your feet.

Are you okay?" "Fan-fricking-tastic. Only way today could get better is if I were scheduled for an appendectomy. Without drugs. In a third-world country.

Simplify always - do not complicate.

Symptoms of ethical, political and economic impoverishment are all around us.

Growing older is like climbing a mountain: the higher you get, the more strength you need, but the further you see.

If we are going to save our hides, we need to start with democracy.

I needed to be pushed as an artist and as a person.

The best fertilizer for a piece of land is the footprints of its owner.

I was always fascinated with people and places and seeing things I didn't know about.

To me, nothing is more vibrant than having the power to do something but not having the experience of knowing what's right and what's wrong.