Nowadays, to get a movie greenlit, you have to make an incredible effort.

You have a big success, and it's still not easy to make a movie.

Starting with 'Thirteen,' my known technique is to cast the lead, then find someone with whom they have incredible chemistry.

You don't pay the same price for a Ferrari as you do for a Honda Accord. But for some reason, for movie tickets, you're asked to pay the same price for 'Avatar' as you are for some $2 million movie, which is kind of a weird thing when you think about it.

As a director, you've got to have quite a few projects going because you never know which one will actually come together with the financing and get the green light.

I've worked on really big budget movies as a designer - 'Vanilla Sky,' 'Three Kings;' I've been in that world, and you can just see people get nervous.