Often, romantic comedies exist in a vacuum, and it's kind of odd.

I have nothing against diamonds, or rubies or emeralds or sapphires. I do object when their acquisition is complicit in the debasement of children or the destruction of a country.

I think one of the privileges of being a filmmaker is the opportunity to remain a kind of perpetual student.

There is no reason why challenging themes and engaging stories have to be mutually exclusive - in fact, each can fuel the other.

It's always great to do a movie that you find is entertaining, but also can give some sort of political or social message.

I don't think movies can ever be too intense, but people have to understand why you're showing them the things you are showing them.

You do these movies, you give it out to the world and you really have no idea how people are going to react to you.

However much I may like to talk about or be interested in a more philosophical or moral agenda, [film] is, ultimately, about narrative. And it's about telling stories that are engaging and dramatic.

I never thought about that ever throughout the entire course of my career about choosing a specific role because it would make me seem more man-like.

I've been in plenty of situations where I thought the film would turn out one way or my performance would be looked at one way and it was an entirely different situation.

There is a segment of the American population that has been excluded from the national myth, and that should be redressed.

Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.

There are some wounds that one can heal only by deepening them and making them worse.

So she did not replay, but played the strategist. She retained more power by withholding an answer.

I remember being in a history lesson and saying to my teacher, 'How come you never talk about black scientists and inventors and pioneers?' And she looked at me and said, 'Because there aren't any.'

There is no risk involved.

Discrimination means keeping the negative and unhappy thoughts away and allowing the pretty thoughts to come inside you.

The stage is my love, it's where I started and where I do my best work.

The leadership spirit comes with a spirit of leadership.

The enemy is not fundamentalism; it is intolerance. In this case, the intolerance is perverse since it masquerades under the "liberal" rhetoric of "equal time." But mistake it not.

If you must be without one, be without the strategy.