One day I was sitting in the producers' office and they were running a promo reel of (the Blanchett/Ralph Fiennes film) 'Oscar and Lucinda,' ... And I'm sitting here and I suddenly looked at this and I saw Cate. In that half-a-minute promo reel, I knew why I was not supposed to cast anyone else.

When I go out to direct a film, every day we prepare too much, we think too much. Knowledge becomes a weight upon wisdom. You know, simple words lost in the quicksand of experience.

When you get up, the night and day is a contradiction. But you get up at 4 A.M. That first blush of blue is where the night and day are trying to find harmony with each other. Harmony is the notes that Mozart didn't give you, but somehow the contradiction of his notes suggest that. All contradictions of his notes suggest the harmony.

You're not a star until you love yourself. Directors, yeah, they've got to love their own philosophies. But actors have to really love themselves.

Heath Ledger is someone I know and would like to do a film with.

I'm not sure who I am. That's why I keep saying I'm an adventurer that goes out.