“I don’t think that there is any such thing as an old film; you don’t say, ‘I read an old book by Flaubert,’ or ‘I saw an old play by Moliere.’”

I can’t see any reason why a film shouldn’t be stylized and visually beautiful. I don’t think a beautiful set is pretentious.

For some reason the more time that elapses after the film opens, the more favorable the reviews become.

We should all die with a sharp, brusque heart attack. My father was lucky like that.

There cannot be any communication except through form. If there is no form, you cannot create emotion in the spectator.

When I was 12 I made some little films with my friends. I tried to make gangster films, like Fantomas, but I remember being very disappointed with them.

It was repugnant, but it was the only way to communicate.

A viewer as opposed to a filmmaker might see a film differently. But I’m extremely comfortable with my style.

When I was twelve, the passage from silent film to the talkies had an impact on me-I still watch silent films.

I saw part of The Singing Detective on TV in New York. I said, Something is going on here.

So I used formal techniques to make the film more perceptive emotionally.

My films seem to be better understood and better received by the monthly publications

For me an unfavorable initial reaction happens fairly often.

. On television the first reactions are usually unfavorable.

They weren’t frightening at all. I’m sure they’d be very funny now.

I never had any special appetite for filmmaking, but you have to make a living and it is miraculous to earn a living working in film.

I am never driven. Every film Ive made has been an assignment.

Definition of a classic: a book everyone is assumed to have read and often thinks they have.

Nor did they seem to think one had done them a kindness by reading their writings. Rather they had done one the kindness by writing them.

TV has taken reflection out of the human condition. People didn’t use to have a ready answer for everything, whether they knew something about it or not.

I mean certainly, you read about things people did to each other in the pursuit of some mystical or occult goal, and it’s horrifying. But that’s just human nature.

No matter how much time you spend reading books or following your intuition, you’re gonna screw it up. Fifty times. You can’t do parenting right.

I read a lot. I spend of lot time thinking. It actually looks like I’m doing nothing, but… hanging out with clever and interesting people is a must if you’re writing comedy, like hanging out with a good bass player when you’re a drummer.

Newspapers are being read all around. The point is not, of course, to glean new information, but rather to coax the mind out of its sleep-induced introspective temper.

I try to get some friends together and read a script aloud. Sometimes I read scripts and record them and play them back to see if there’s a movie.