“The ugly duckling is a misunderstood universal myth. It’s not about turning into a blonde Barbie doll or becoming what you dream of being; it’s about self-revelation, becoming who you are.”

Accept certain inalienable truths.

Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.

My father made sure that I had lots of levels of education – from ballroom-dancing to painting, commando training, theatre and magic.

I don’t have fights with actors. In absolute honesty, I’ve never fought with any actor ever.

Some of the greatest relationship films of all time, the two stars have hated each other, but mostly you see that chemistry.

To be honest, there is a tourists’ trail; my family had a farm and a gas station, and you can go and see my birthplace, though where I lived is actually under a freeway now.

Hurt him. Hurt him and save him

Trust yourself that you can do it and get it

All good, clean stories are melodrama, it’s just the set of devices that determines how you show or hide it.

I grew up around jazz. I love jazz.

Fitzgerald coined the phrase the ‘Jazz Age,’ and now we’re living in the Hip-Hop Age.

The cold-audition process is not a science, so I ignore that.

Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself

Everything I make starts very personally.

A life lived in fear is a life half lived.

I do find walking is fundamental to my creative process.

And no again: My studio is not a first or any step toward becoming any type of businessman on my part.

Becoming critical in the face of criticism, only inspires more criticism.

I became a welder. I was actually becoming an Engineer and I joined the wrong queue. And so I became a welder, without knowing what a welder was.

Life is supposed to be a series of peaks and valleys. The secret is to keep the valleys from becoming Grand Canyons.

In philosophy an individual is becoming himself.

As Beverly Hills becomes more Iranian-Jewish, it is becoming politically conservative.

It is altogether as worthy of God and as much becoming Him to pardon and show mercy, in case of repentance and submission and reformation, as to punish, in case of impenitency and obstinacy.

There’s a danger in Hollywood of becoming self-obsessed.