The French have got to understand that a film is so expensive that it can no longer afford to be regional or even national in scope.

America is the only country capable of producing national movies: its culture has become a global culture.

The art of motion pictures is pictorial and language comes a distant second.

When Americans shoot movies they aim at the entire planet. When the French make movies, they aim at Paris.

The world distribution of French movies is a laughing matter. That is a fact.

Today's cinema is a global art form, it is impossible to make movies for a market the size of France, representing no more than 4% of the world's total.

If you make a movie about Elizabeth I, how much of the dialogue is her real words? Audiences know when they go see a movie that it is fiction.

I had to choose between American and British actors, and it didn't take me more than a second to decide: Russians are Europeans and should be played by other Europeans.

British actors behave like Europeans; they are also extremely well trained.

I think it is a mistake to identify a movie according to its language, as if movies were literature.

War scenes are less difficult than love scenes.

For the achiever the battle with critics is a slow war of attrition. Let time do the dirty work for you.

I have deep feelings of depression... What can I do about this?' 'Snap out of it! Five cents, please.

You ever wonder when God's coming back with a lot of barbecue sauce?

Some of the most unhappy artists in the most difficult situations can create awe-inspiring works of art.

In order to make a choice, you need the power to see there is one.

I love what I know about passion, I love what I know about mercy, I love what I know about patience, I love what I know about soul, and I know you.

To photograph is often compared to an act of redemption - to select from an infinite number of choices that which is to be remembered.

What you are is a question only you can answer.

The quickest way to recognize a cult is its treatment of Jesus.

There is no difference between knowledge and temperance; for he who knows what is good and embraces it, who knows what is bad and avoids it, is learned and temperate.