Director

Most filmmakers can't afford to try something out that doesn't work.

In a sense, I think a movie is really a little like a question and when you make it, that's when you get the answer.

You ought to love what you're doing because, especially in a movie, over time you really will start to hate it.

Everything I do is personal. I have never made a movie that didn't have very strong personal resonance.

Without a doubt, I was born to want to make cinema, but the kind of cinema I want to make is not like commercial movies, which I enjoy myself, but I wanted to be the kind of filmmaker who wrote original work, sort of like a novelist would who deals with who we are and our times or our relationships.

I was the kind of kid that had some talents or ability, but it never came out in school.

You have to really be courageous about your instincts and your ideas. Otherwise you'll just knuckle under, and things that might have been memorable will be lost.

Anyone who's made film and knows about the cinema has a lifelong love affair with the experience. You never stop learning about film.

The professional world was much more unpleasant than I thought. I was always wishing I could get back that enthusiasm I had when I was doing shows at college.

I live near San Francisco in the most beautiful spot on earth and enjoy myself in many ways. Yes, I love to work, which for now is to think and read and write, so it's all a dream come true.

I have much to learn from my daughter Sofia. Her minimalism exposes my limitations: I'm too instinctive and operatic, I put too much heart into my work, I get lost sometimes in bizarre things - it's my Italian heritage.