“I think a lot of good directors listen to music while they’re working. The songs just don’t become a part of the film. They’re replaced.”

Being capable of anything is a bullshit concept, unless it means you also admit that you’re capable of cheating, lying and killing.

The press is like any business. Its a group of really intelligent individuals that ends up being one slathering, one-eyed, drooling monster.

I’m romantically inclined. No human being on Earth is not attracted to other people. There is no fairy tale that they only have eyes for you. You just choose to act on it or not.

I’m aware that I’m very fringe, and it’s nice that way.

You can’t really control how people hear stuff. It’s hard to remember that. I have to let go of it.

I do think that when you make repeated mistakes, it’s usually because you’re just not coming to grips with something.

My job is to be some sort of music/lyric psychic, to figure out that that’s the right song to not fight the lyric.

I feel like a quote out of context.

There is still some art in pop music. But it can’t happen if you’re not inspired.

Next door, there’s an old man who lived to his nineties and one day passed away in his sleep. And his wife, she stayed for a couple of days and passed away. I’m sorry, I know that’s a strange way to tell you that I know we belong.

I could probably live in Bali the rest of my life and completely live in the sticks and have a f – king moped and make a record every couple of years and not step in public and break even like I do anyway. That’s really tempting.

You never know when you put out an album that’s unique whether it’ll get beat up for it or not.

I’m older than I was, and I’m still washed-up, and I haven’t changed my music one iota. It’s just much easier to do this when people are being nice to you.

The nice thing about age is worrying less and less about what people think.

I think alcohol is a good drug for me when I’m writing. I don’t think I’ve ever had a problem with it. I can stop for a few weeks, so I think it’s okay. I don’t think it’s good for my liver, but I do love it. It’s a huge part of my life, and it makes me happy.

Everyone, when you’re a teenager and you’re growing up, you do feel like your life is dramatic enough to be on a TV screen, but we know that it’s not.

As a director you already have a script, you have actors… you have collaborators when you’re a director.

I came up in the community center. I used to be physical director of the South Central Community Center in Chicago on 83rd. It’s still there. It used to be around there when I was a kid.

“A good director is one that lets you improv,” that’s ridiculous. There’s some actors who should not be improving and there are some scripts that should not be touched. I think it’s just a case by case basis.

I operate the camera, I always do it when I’m the director, and I like to approach it as a documentary, finding the images based on what happens, as it happens.

There are some directors, lesser in confidence or skill, who make the actor feel very uncomfortable because you feel you’re auditioning for them, every day, and that’s a terrible feeling on the set.

In the studio the director controls the actor’s every move, every inflection, every expression.

The producer, director and stars are the geniuses who get the hosannas when it’s a hit. Theirs are also the heads that are mounted on spears when it’s a flop.

My big break was becoming the spokesperson for Texas Instruments. Casting directors really started giving me a chance to read for projects.