I'm influenced by a lot of filmmakers; I like English filmmakers because I feel a kin to them.

I read every screenplay that was being sent to the other directors. None were being sent to me, but I was reading what others were choosing and what the best writers were writing.

Trying to ground everything in reality was the most important thing to me.

To me, casting is all about finding a character within the actor off the screen as much as on the screen.

Our story is a 'once upon a time', but it's not a 'happy ever after'.

Once you know the world you know how your character fits into it.

I went to America with a very specific idea of what I wanted to do.

I think you can get away with being a bit more political in science fiction.

I think that 'Halo' is a hard property because they don't need to make a film. They make far more money out of the games so why risk?

I think it's possible to make a blockbuster that is actually emotional. They don't need to be mutually exclusive.

I mean, you know, sometimes, yeah, you wish for something and you don't get quite what you wish for. But you get something bigger and better.

A person who does not believe in victory and who always doubts will never finish anything

The experience of God, or in any case the possibility of experiencing God, is innate.

The thing about working at Pixar is that everyone around you is smarter and funnier and cleverer than you and they all think the same about everyone else. Its a nice problem to have.

Thank Heaven for Retirement!

Life is not a static thing. The only people who do not change their minds are incompetents in asylums, and those in cemeteries.

[Y]ou will understand the game behind the curtain too well not to perceive the old trick of turning every contingency into a resource for accumulating force in the government.

I love heels... whoever created heels is amazing!

No one forgets the truth; they just get better at lying.

Big Night and The Impostors are both things that I wrote.

No, by my soul, I never in my life Did hear a challenge urged more modestly, Unless a brother should a brother dare To gentle exercise and proof of arms.