You never know what you have until you put it in front of an audience. That's the truth. That's the truth of filmmaking and that's why you make movies, for an audience to, hopefully, enjoy it.

[If] you want to learn something about somebody, get into a fistfight. You'll learn more in five minutes than you will in five weeks of conversations. It's basic.

I'm not a film-school guy. I was a high-school dropout. I was on a nuclear submarine. I was an electrician. I was a house painter. So if you get in my face, I'm going to fight you.

Well, as far as film, either you're making a film or you're making videos. Digital capture is always trying to emulate the range and look of film. I believe personally that film has more.

I like to do stuff real and practical and in camera, as much as possible. I like old school filmmaking.

To operate а tank as a crew, it's not about five individuals. It has to be one organism, composed of five people.

I feel like, as a filmmaker, I'm at my strongest when I write the script and when it comes from me, out of whole cloth. My best work has always been self-generated.

I think a good director can embrace any genre and it's the kind of thing where you always want to do something different. You always want to challenge yourself.

I'm one of those big believers that the movie comes together in the way it's supposed to be and that movies are fated to become what they become.

My mantra is "Better is better".

The most terrifying thing in my life is a blank sheet of paper.

Don't point to the darkness, but to the stars.

If you feel that you are good, don't be too proud of it.

Never had much faith in love or miracles, Never wanna put my heart on the line

Because poets feel what we're afraid to feel, venture where we're reluctant to go, we learn from their journeys without taking the same dramatic risks.

I believe the Universe is planned for good.

A successful current affairs television show seems to be more and more a cross between a music hall turn and a scene in a torture chamber.

Treat every Frenchman as if he was the devil himself.

People are like birds: on the wing, all beautiful; up close, all beady little eyes.

If Jesus Christ was not perfect, then the religion bearing his name falls to the ground.

I loved 'Rocky' and 'Rambo', and am very proud of them.