“I think that finding a way into somebody’s life that’s sort of off from a side angle can tell you more about that person than a greatest hits approach.”

In Hollywood through the 50s, there were black, English, and Middle European housekeepers and maids.

Kinsey was six foot five, and he had this leader of men quality.

We’re still pushing it, you know. It is weird. Suddenly you wake up and it’s like, ‘God, five years have gone by.

Kinsey thought that Freud in his own way was as dangerous as the Catholic Church.

Our relationships, relationships between adults, how all those pieces fit together – that’s the most complicated thing we all face.

So I never thought of anything as making fun of it, but kind of reveling in the melodrama of it. It’s a melodrama.

It’s in the nature of television to restrain the spontaneity of a live event. Things become more and more prepackaged.

Kinsey would identify himself with Galileo in moments of feelings of persecution.

But the imposition of morality onto science, – where it does not belong – has become rampant in recent years.

But you really – I always think that a director has got to adapt to whatever the needs of the actor are. You know, so if you take someone like Eddie Murphy, who is not a big fan of rehearsal.

There’s no question that Whale’s movies are classics. They were wonderful, and successful.

That day I think we really saw each other for the first time. I mean, saw beyond the bag of bones on the outside. You take away her pretty and my plain and what you get underneath is about the same: a couple of lost girls looking to be found.

I do think that’s so much a part of what being a director is – in working with actors – to really try and be sensitive to what each actor needs to get to where he wants to be.

I had a couple of movies that I was passionately involved with that I could never get made. ‘Richard Pryor,’ I wrote for – gosh – over a year. That was close to getting made for two-and-a-half years after that.

My idea of a beach holiday is going to New York for two weeks, just going and hanging out.

For me, someone like the Eddie Murphy character doesn’t live anywhere; he lives on a stage and when he’s not on the stage he’s on a bus getting to the next stage.

Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside equally desperate to get out.

Stubborn and ardent clinging to one’s opinion is the best proof of stupidity.

I was one of the wildest Santa Clauses they ever had.

Orson Welles was one of these people who was defying everything the doctors told him he wasn’t supposed to be doing. He was really enjoying himself when he was eating what he wanted to eat.

Motorsport is very expensive. No one cares if you had a good season two years ago and then you have an injury. It is a very dodgy investment.

Every one rushes elsewhere and into the future, because no one wants to face one’s own inner self.

They say some of my stars drink whiskey, but I have found that ones who drink milkshakes don’t win many ball games.

There are a lot of great athletes on the PGA Tour and a lot of good basketball players. But I can definitely put my name in the mix as one of the best.