Director

If you're a person who says yes most of the time, you'll find yourself in the hotel business and the restaurant business.

George Lucas doesn't have the most physical stamina. He was so unhappy making Star Wars that he just vowed he'd never do it again.

When I was about 9, I had polio, and people were very frightened for their children, so you tended to be isolated. I was paralyzed for a while, so I watched television.

Sequels are not done for the audience or cinema or the filmmakers. It's for the distributor. The film becomes a brand.

Art depends on luck and talent.

I became quite successful very young, and it was mainly because I was so enthusiastic and I just worked so hard at it.

I've been offered lots of movies. There's always some actor who's doing a project and would like to have me do it.

I was always the black sheep of the family and always told that I was dumb, and I had a low IQ and did badly in school.

I've been blessed with enough wealth that I can make a film myself up to a certain budget. So one way I thought I would reinvent myself was just to make these very small, personal films that I've financed myself.

Some critics are stimulating in that they make you realise how you could do better, and those are valued.

Movie-wise, there is nothing I wouldn't do again. It's not possible to make one perfect movie every time.

I always found the film world unpleasant. It's all about the schedule, and never really flew for me.

I had a heartbreaking experience when I was 9. I always wanted to be a guard. The most wonderful girl in the world was a guard. When I got polio and then went back to school, they made me a guard. A teacher took away my guard button.

My film is not a movie; it's not about Vietnam. It is Vietnam.

When I do a novel, I don't really use the script, I use the book; when I did Apocalypse Now, I used Heart of Darkness. Novels usually have so much rich material.

I'm no longer dependent on the movie business to make a living. So if I want to make movies as other old guys would play golf, I can.

When that happens - when risk is taken and the filmmakers dive into the subject matter without a parachute - very often what you get it something with those qualities that make it age well with the public.

I landed a job with Roger Corman. The job was to write the English dialogue for a Russian science fiction picture. I didn't speak any Russian. He didn't care whether I could understand what they were saying; he wanted me to make up dialogue.

When I was going for my graduate degree, I decided I was going to make a feature film as my thesis. That's what I was famous for-that I had my thesis film be a feature film, which was 'You're a Big Boy Now.'

To make great movies, there is an element of risk. You have to say, 'Well, I am going to make this film, and it is not really a sure thing.'