On my last day of shooting, I'd be happy to say 'Cut, it's a wrap' and fall off the twig.

I think it is obscene that we should believe that we are entitled to end somebody's life, no matter what that person has supposedly done or not done.

I believe we need heroes...we need certain people who we can measure our own shortcomings by.

I passionately believe in heroes, but I think the world has changed its criteria in determining who it describes as a hero.

There's nothing more important in making movies than the screenplay.

I don't blame people for their mistakes, but I do ask that they pay for them.

I am passionately opposed to capital punishment, and I have been all my life.

I just love biography, and I'm fascinated by people who have shifted our destinies or our points of view.

I want to be remembered as a storyteller.

Art is not an elitist gift for a few select people. Art is for everyone.

What I am sad about is that there is now, in America, no equivalent to the art circuit.

Amy [Winehouse] changed pop music forever, I remember knowing there was hope, and feeling not alone because of her. She lived jazz, she lived the blues.

I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical reasoner.

Most people do not believe in anything very much and our greatest poetry is given to us by those who do.

Unless you hit your television with a sledgehammer, you're not going to be able to be an individual.

Before death overpowers us, we have great things to accomplish by performing right actions.

I liked English and art and did a lot of painting. And for some reason I was good at math, but I wasn't an A student. I really had to work hard to get good grades.

I'm inspired by the poets, so I'm always going to give in that direction, rather than in any other. It's the making of me... and also the downfall of me.

My heart was beating out of my chest.

You're allowed to grant people into the darkness, but you must allow them to come out again.

You set the tone on the set that you want to see in the film.