We're all influenced by everything unless we're locked in an empty room.

And later I thought, I can't think how anyone can become a director without learning the craft of cinematography.

The rules are learnt in order to be broken, but if you don't know them, then something is missing.

You make the movie through the cinematography - it sounds quite a simple idea, but it was like a huge revelation to me.

Marketing is a very good thing, but it shouldn't control everything. It should be the tool, not that which dictates.

Years ago I had a house in Sussex, it was like Arcadia, with an old Victorian bridge, a pond and the Downs.

Too many films today feel formulaic and familiar. I prefer it when the familiar is made to feel strange.

When a book is just a plot, you know, two men fight for the love of a woman in a wild frontier, I immediately ask, 'Why?'

In marketing, the familiar is everything.

Mirrors are the essence of movies.

What makes God laugh is people who make plans.

I don't want to see a 'Sopranos' movie. This is just me. I like to think the end is where it was on TV as opposed to becoming a movie.

I have the picture of Barack [Obama] and me dancing right outside of my dressing room door, I see it every single day, and it makes me very happy.

Very likely education does not make very much difference.

He who hears not me but the logos will say: All is one.

I am not asking for sensational revelations, but I would like to sense the meaning of that minute, to feel it's urgency.

It's the hardest thing in the world to accept a 'little' success and leave it that way.

Another important time when I feel most alive is when I hear a song that I love so much that all I can do is dance - I feel so free!

Asking about acting to me is like asking about junior high.

To catch the real meaning of the Spirit of Christmas, we need only drop the last syllable, and it becomes the Spirit of Christ.

My mother gave me this book called Feature Films at Used Car Prices by a guy named Rick Schmidt. I gotta credit the guy, cuz he gave me the most practical advice. It empowers you.