A painting probably is the most shocking increase in value, from what it costs to make to what you sell it for.
I don't hold with the notion that only bad books make good movies.
I have always believed that there is a need for life-affirming films.
I'm interested in stories which insist on a dog fails-to-eat-dog kind of world. I hate misanthropy, want to believe that there's a possibility that we might all be redeemed, that hope deferred makes the soul sick, that our humanity is fragile, funny, common, crazy, full of the longing for love, the failure of love.
I am a teller of stories. . . a weaver of dreams. I can dance, sing, and in the right weather stand on my head. I know seven words of Latin. I have a little magic and a trick or two. I know the proper way to meet a dragon, can fight dirty but not fair, and once swallowed thirty oysters in a minute. I am not domestic. I am a luxury, and in that sense, necessary.
You know, you lose a lot of social skills if you’re a writer. You spend too long alone. And it’s forced me to address that.
No studio in Hollywood wanted 'Cold Mountain. ' None. No one wanted 'Ripley,' no one wanted 'The English Patient. ' That tells you there isn't really an appetite for ambitious movie-making out there.
Always assume that your opponent is going to be bigger, stronger and faster than you; so that you learn to rely on technique, timing and leverage rather than brute strength
As for the industry, it has certainly changed. I think with all of these television shows and YouTube and the internet, you have so much less time to develop as an artist and perfect your craft. So many things today are "instant" and, that's not always a good thing.
This is the thing that forever frustrated me about Obama: Not recognizing American exceptionalism. We are the beacon of freedom and liberty. If we don't stand for it, it isn't gonna survive anywhere else because it's never existed in the world like it does here.
When I was 20, Shostakovich was my favorite composer. I still find his Fifth Symphony wonderful, with its outstanding themes and rhythms. That's the piece that made me want to be a classical composer.