You know how many movies it took Tom Cruise before he was making 5, 6 million dollars? It probably took a billion dollars in box office.

You can take a handful of dollars, a good story, and people with passion and make a movie that will stand up against any $70 million movie.

I have a problem with the blatant celebrity exhibitionism that happens in this business and being sold purely as a brand.

When you look at some of the most respected actors there are and the crap that they're in... it didn't used to be that way.

I think The Exorcist is the best American horror movie ever made. Friedkin was at the top of his game.

I really tried to make movies I wanted to see. I thought that if I was good enough, somebody would always need me.

Mostly I do films that mainstream Hollywood wouldn't touch.

I have all this time between projects, and I'm not so sure that's a healthy thing. It's scary, because at 36 I'm woefully unqualified for anything else.

I don't like people who use the press to advance themselves in a way that they haven't earned as an actor, performer or director.

Everybody acts like they're in a movie in most movies. That's why they stink.

It's interesting to help someone find their vocabulary. There would not have been a De Niro without a Scorsese.

Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money.

This assumption that the blue collar crowd is not supposed to read it, or a farmer in his overalls is not to read poetry, seems to be dangerous if not tragic.

You have to be interested in inequality. The issue of inequality and that of poverty are not separable.

The guitar is the easiest instrument to play and the hardest to play well.

I don't think you can ever regain your ignorance.

There are only two kinds of class: First class and no class.

Brave is not saying I have no fear. It’s being terrified and still moving forward.

But I'm grateful for everyone who would want to read a spoiler because it means that they care and want to see the movie. I know what it feels like, as an enormous Star Wars fan myself.

I don't really watch too many movies. I don't have the patience usually to watch one, one and a half or two hours in a row.

Time is a beast who has the immense patience to swallow everything.