To me, casting is all about finding a character within the actor off the screen as much as on the screen.

I read every screenplay that was being sent to the other directors. None were being sent to me, but I was reading what others were choosing and what the best writers were writing.

Trying to ground everything in reality was the most important thing to me.

Our story is a 'once upon a time', but it's not a 'happy ever after'.

Once you know the world you know how your character fits into it.

I'm influenced by a lot of filmmakers; I like English filmmakers because I feel a kin to them.

I went to America with a very specific idea of what I wanted to do.

I think you can get away with being a bit more political in science fiction.

I think that 'Halo' is a hard property because they don't need to make a film. They make far more money out of the games so why risk?

I think it's possible to make a blockbuster that is actually emotional. They don't need to be mutually exclusive.

I mean, you know, sometimes, yeah, you wish for something and you don't get quite what you wish for. But you get something bigger and better.

These fragments I have shored against my ruins

An unread book does nobody any good

I do have a natural sense for business, which I think I get from my Dad.

I've got an answer to where Osama bin Laden is and I know, he's dead and living in my suitcase with my dummies.'

On the one hand, undeserved success gives no satisfaction... but, on the other hand, well-deserved failure gives no satisfaction either.

People can undergo a sudden change of thinking and loyalties under threat of death or intense social pressure and isolation from friends and family.

We have much wisdom to gain by learning to understand other people's cultures and permitting ourselves to accept that there is more than one version of reality.

A smile can change the situation of the world.

Problems breed problems, and the lack of a disciplined method of openly attacking them breeds more problems.

a deviation from propriety scarcely ever escapes punishment.