I got a chance to work with Mel Brooks on two of his films: Silent Movie and High Anxiety.

First of all, just to get Diner made would have been an achievement in that I got a chance to direct.

There's no downside to having too much experience.

You don't always have to have the ending, but you want to have a satisfactory conclusion.

A lot of time mistakes are very interesting - you look for the behaviour that's not the one you expect.

I think certain movies work and that is part of the magic of it all. We can't truly define why something succeeds.

I got involved with an acting school and studied for a couple years. They used to have improv exercises that you would work on and you would do improvs.

When I began to think about the head of the family, the storyteller, the rise of television which became the new storyteller, the break-up of the American family as an idea and then Avalon came.

Craig Nelson who is an actor and is in a show called Coach in the United States. We began to do some improvisational stuff and we used to get laughs and things.

Some actors are supposed to be very difficult, but I've not found that to be the situation.

You have a movie and it proves itself and then certain things happen.

It seems that the people of Oran are like that friend of Flaubert who, on the point of death, casting a last glance at the irreplaceable earth, exclaimed: "Close the window, it's too beautiful.

You don't pray for the growth and success of the organization you work for, but you pray God favours you before your boss.Really?

Enough small empty boxes thrown into a big empty box fill it full.

Usually for me, the melodic structures come out in the water and the lyrical ideas could come from a book I'm reading.

When we are born, when we enter this world, it is as if we signed a pact for the rest of our life, but a day may come when we will ask ourselves Who signed this on my behalf?

All any filmmaker can do is focus on creating something that has depth and resonance, and then do whatever possible to get it seen by audiences and hope the word spreads.

There are still generations of people, older people, who were born and bred and marinated in it, in that prejudice and racism, and they just have to die.

The edge is a great place to be. Inside the box is too dark. Outside the box, there's no leverage. But on the edge of the box, you can get things done!

When I come into the theatre I get a sense of security. I love an audience. I love people, and I act because I like trying to give pleasure to people.