The essence to me of all good drama is argument.

Kubrick and I were pretty good friends.

Well, there's no question that a good script is an absolutely essential, maybe the essential thing for a movie.

Good actors aren't enough. You need charisma. Can you imagine 'Casablanca' without Bogart and Bergman?

Burt Lancaster was largely responsible for me becoming a director.

People ask me over and over how is it that I work with stars. How do you work with Barbra Streisand, with Paul Newman, with Al Pacino, with Sally Field, Jane Fonda, you work with all these people. Isn't this a problem? And it isn't a problem at all. It's terrific. It's great fun. And I don't know what the answer is.