Theres so much diversity of opinion out there, so ultimately you have to listen to it, put it aside, and make what you want to make.

When you do a studio picture, all the paperwork and legal stuff is already taken care of!

After I script the movie, I have to storyboard it out, I have to budget it, and I have to understand if I can afford all those visual effects or not.

There are trappings of science fiction which I kind of embrace, but there are also cliches which I run from.

In all my science fiction movies, I try to blend the familiar with the futuristic so as not to be too off putting to the audience. There is always something familiar they can grab onto.

To come up short when you reach too far is not such a bad thing rather than not to reach at all, right?

Sometimes, if you leave yourself open, an actor can bring nice nuances to a character.

Strangely, I always have a lot of cut scenes. I keep writing shorter and shorter scripts, thinking that this time, I'll get all my scenes in.

If I know what my finale is when I'm writing a screenplay, then I don't always have to chart out every scene before that. I can adequately find my way. I'm experienced enough to do that.

I guess you don't make any franchise movies unless the fans are there.

I don't want to have so much humor [in films] that it undermines the jeopardy, but enough to sometime relieve tension.

Knowledge is what you know, that gives you an edge overthe ordinary person.

We all know what needs to be done - it's the doing it that is the challenge!

I am who I am today because of the choices I made yesterday.

One does not play the piano with one's fingers, one plays the piano with one's mind.

The Federal Government is the people and the budget is a reflection of their need.

The lack of facts holds you back. The odds are stacked against a weak mind.

... reform the environment and not man; being absolutely confident that if you give man the right environment, he will behave favorably.

The political future for Democrats is daunting.

I learned to park outside of Denny's because it's 24 hours. I made a deal at a 7-Eleven with a mailman so I could get my mail delivered there.

And painted portraits have a life of their own that comes from deep in the soul of the painter and where the machine can't go.