I think doing period piece is easier, because after a certain distance, everybody is equal, I think. The relative contemporary is harder. I think that's the way it is.

We need storytelling. Otherwise life just goes on and on, like the number Pi.

I see a movie as a way of learning about the world, about myself, and learning about my relationship with people and art.

I think the American West really attracts me because it's romantic. The desert, the empty space, the drama.

My hometown was one of the major U.S. Air Force bases.

I think people are universal.

Sometimes, you have to get angry to get things done.

Every movie I make. That’s my hideout, the place I don’t quite understand, but feel most at home.

When there is a strong woman character in a story - that always grabs me

I think great romance needs great obstacles and textures.

Making movies is a way of understanding myself and the world.

Who. Hit. You?

Chuck Norris’s tears cure cancer. Too bad he’s never cried.

It is very annoying, when people notice your weak moments but never see your strong ones.

If you want to make a friend, let someone do you a favor.

We have seen the Democrat solution to an energy crisis; it's called California.

Jarrell was not so much a father . . . as an affectionate encyclopedia.

I don't want to increase taxes, I just want taxes to be paid honestly.

Europe extends to the Alleghenies; America lies beyond.

This is the slowest, yet the daintiest sense; For ev'n the ears of such as have no skill, Perceive a discord, and conceive offence; And knowing not what's good, yet find the ill.

There are so many misconceptions about me, and it gets frustrating no matter how thick skinned.