You've got to show your soul otherwise you're just a piece of equipment.

If you don't have a mountain, build one and then climb it. And after you climb it, build another one; otherwise you start to flatline in your life.

Nothing's harder than writing. There's no comparison. With directing, you can bounce a lot of ideas around. There's tremendous support - you've got editors and sound mixers. With writing, it's all you, and it's just crippling when people tear up your pages.

You know you've been around when they start to remake your own movies when you're still alive.

If you're willing to take the humiliation of sticking your head above the crowd, maybe it's, you know, the pleasure will be worth the pain.

I think that's become passe, but if you can surround yourself with a kind of monument to yourself and your family - a statement - and you can afford it, then that's a noble project.