I'm not one of these guys who sits around saying, 'Gee, I mean, the person had a strange childhood and that's why he's doing this horrible thing. Poor Jeffrey Dahmer. He's just had a bad childhood and that's why he's eating people.' Wait a second! This person should be removed from the planet.
In my career as a director, there's always been some point where you get halfway through it, or three-quarters, and you go: 'What is this thing all about, and why am I telling the story? Does anybody really care about seeing this?' At that time you have to say: 'OK, forget that and just go ahead.'
This film cost $31 million. With that kind of money I could have invaded some country.
I read every book there was on jazz, about the original players - King Oliver, Buddy Bolden and all those groups. At one time I was fairly well schooled in that... I could tell you who played where and when, historically, way before my time.
I am a good listener. I think that came from my schooling.
Governor Romney has a great business background. He is extremely well educated. He has several degrees from Harvard, including, you know, business and including a law degree.
It takes tremendous discipline to control the influence, the power you have over other people's lives.
There has to be something in every role that interests you.
In school, I could hear the leaves rustle and go on a journey.
I like working. That's when I'm feeling my best. And the people around me know that. My wife knows that.
Society is at odds with itself.
I hate to see anybody sink. I hate to see anybody lose their dream, lose their home, something like that.
I've always felt that if I examine myself too much, I'll find out what I know and don't know, and I'll burst the bubble. I've gotten so lucky relying on my animal instincts, I'd rather keep a little bit of the animal alive.
When I do a picture and it's 90% black, like 'Bird,' I use 90% black people.
I'm interested in the fact that the less secure a man is, the more likely he is to have extreme prejudice.
The stronger the participation of the female characters, the better the movie. They knew that in the old days, when women stars were equally as important as men.
I like a drama.
People love westerns worldwide. There's something fantasy-like about an individual fighting the elements. Or even bad guys and the elements. It's a simpler time. There's no organized laws and stuff.
I just don't like killing creatures.
I'm not a New Age person, but I do believe in meditation, and for that reason I've always liked the Buddhist religion. When I've been to Japan, I've been to Buddhist temples and meditated, and I found that rewarding.
Just try not to ingest a lot of fats, and just try to eat carefully.
Comedy isn't necessarily all dialogue. Think of Buster Keaton: the poker face and all this chaos going on all around him. Sometimes it's a question of timing, of the proper rhythm.
I'd always tried to resist playing the supervirility thing. I liked showing the vulnerability of age.
I just think it is important that you realize, that you're the best in the world. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican or whether you're libertarian or whatever, you are the best. And we should not ever forget that. And when somebody does not do the job, we got to let them go.
A lot of people are bored of all the political correctness.
Other than obvious errors like forgetting a line, often I can't see any difference between take one and take 20.
I think our politicians could learn a lot from Mandela.
You know when you're young and you see a play in high school, and the guys all have gray in their hair and they're trying to be old men and they have no idea what that's like? It's just that stupid the other way around.
They say marriages are made in Heaven. But so is thunder and lightning.
We boil at different degrees.
The less secure a man is, the more likely he is to have extreme prejudice.
I love big business!
I always liked characters that were more grounded in reality.
Overnight stardom can be harmful to your mental health. Yeah. It has ruined a lot of people.
When I did 'Bird,' it was a surprise to some people, first because I wasn't in it and second because most of the films I'd been doing were cop movies or westerns or adventure films, so to be doing one about Charlie Parker, who was a great influence on American music, was a great thrill for me.
I liked Vittorio De Sica a lot, and I got to work with him once in a segment movie. He was a great director. He was a very charismatic character and a guy I watched a lot when he was directing.