Arnold and Jamie Lee must have worked over the years with directors that did 50 takes, because I'd get like three takes or so and say, Ok, that's it, we're done.

The first Decline I did was out of sheer love and appreciation for the music. In 1977, it was more about bands, because punk was a new form of music. It was groundbreaking and political.

I actually picked up copies of Decline I and II at a flea market once. I walked out without paying.

For the most part, studio movies have huge budgets. They don't do anything under 30 to 40 million. When you have that much money at stake, you have so many people breathing down your neck.

I got IRS records to finance what I wanted to do.

I like to think about society as being a flock of birds: There seems to be a common consciousness in different time periods, and the new common consciousness reacts to the old standards.

I was always into music. I think everyone is when they're a teenager, as a way to drown out the world.

I really feel kind of guilty spending 80 million dollars. People are starving in the world.

Nobody wanted to touch Decline III when they found out what it was about.

Decline III, I funded myself, from the studio money. That, and I sold a lot of drugs. Kidding. Don't print that.

I live on this nice three acres in Hollywood.

You can't get mad at a real ending. Some of them are ugly. It's the fake happily ever afters that should piss you off.

I pray with my knees bow.

Oh Mom, it turns out my knight in shining armor was just some liar in tinfoil.

I also drink Scotch. But I'm not picky. I'll take the victory Scotch, or the Scotch of defeat. Or the rotgut swill.

A man of knowledge lives by acting, not by thinking about acting.

One of the big misconceptions about me is that I walk around in mini-skirts and high heels twenty-four seven and go to the gym in heels.

I had piano lessons when I was younger, but I quit because I didn't want to sit and learn the scales.

I think everyone should live in New York City if they ever get the chance at least once in their life. It's such a great place to live; there's a different energy about living in the city.

The art of life is the art of avoiding pain.

The world is a mirror of infinite beauty, yet no man sees it.