I'm one of those people who is actually inspired by a deadline. I might not sleep for many days on end, it may not be good for my health, but it definitely helps.

Big Sur is at the end of the continent. It attracts really crazy people.

Death is always around the corner, but often our society gives it inordinate help.

I dont find myself lobbying for projects. Filmmakers almost always come to me.

A carefree quality is a whole aspect of life that I will never understand. I don't think I have ever been carefree and can't see the pleasure of it.

Music is the subliminal connecting adhesive in film, or at least in narrative feature films.

I have always loved Scottish music - all sorts of Celtic, Gaelic music.

Conducting, I tried it once off the cuff, and quickly realized there were subtle aspects that I was missing. There is a lot more to it that I was able to grasp simply by watching conductors.

In mainstream romantic comedies, I'm usually tearing my hair out. It's just a devastatingly difficult genre for me.

I like business and personal life to be distinct.

John Barry was the first film composer I was aware of. As a teenager I owned several of his Bond soundtracks.

They said words they did not mean, and their conversations seemed to follow all kinds of rules—rules that no one has ever explained to Oscar.

You burned the city of London in our houses and we felt the flames.

We can't all be Einstein (because we don't all play the violin). At the very least, we need a sort of street-smart science: the ability to recognize evidence, gather it, assess it, and act on it.

I get along with everyone except for men my age, who are bourgeois or retired or boring.

Models are what they are... people who model clothing, that's all.

Just selling through a movie theater is not ever going to be a viable way to make money back on a movie anymore.

When creative individuals are given a stage, they have the power to advance humanity

It is beautiful that there are three hundred religions in the world; more are needed. ... Each person should have his own religion - there should be as many religions as there are people!

When you do the right thing, good stuff has a way of happening.

What is the unmistakable mark of a wise man? It is Love, Love for all humanity.