Quite Franc-ly, I think I am an asset to this world we live in. I know that if I didn’t exist, there would be some truly upset people just waiting for me. A life without Franco is like a kitten without fur. That’s what my reflection told me.
For April Fools Day, someone played a really cruel joke on me. They stole ALL my mirrors and I had to go hours without seeing myself. I mean, I couldn’t even do my daily affirmations. What kind of world is this? I tell you, it’s artists like myself that really suffer.
Always have one artistic thing that is pure, at least one thing, where you don’t compromise. You can do other things to make money, but have one pure area.
They say living well is the best revenge but sometimes writing well is even better.
If you just read the book, you’re taking in the narrative, you’re taking in the characters, you’re understanding it in a certain way. If you make a movie it’s really an act of translation.
I don’t consider weed to be any worse than having a beer.
Teens today rule the world. The whole culture – movies, music – is pointed at young people. They have so ‘much’ power.
I guess it’s ironic. I just did the Gucci cologne ad, and I was the cologne thief in junior high.
If the work is good, what does it matter? I’m doing it because I love it. Why not do as many things I love as I can? As long as the work is good.
I am very grateful for my life. I think one of the keys to not being depressed is to find gratitude and to be grateful for what you have. So I am grateful for what I have.
I don’t even like to sleep – I feel as if there’s too much to do.
There’s so much pressure put on relationships to deliver the satisfaction of life. And to me, that is just not the answer. I feel like it should be something in addition to what you love or be a part of that.
Did you ever see Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke? That’s what happens if you really smoke weed and make a movie. You get two guys and no plot and it’s basically like, ‘Yeah! Let’s drive a van made of weed!’ And that’s pretty much the movie.
Almost all the movies I’ve directed are adaptations. And I think what I found when I went to film school, where they try to push you to find your voice or your thing, is that I got a lot of things out of adaptations.
I don’t have many hobbies. If I think of hobbies, maybe ping pong. But I don’t have a desire to get a ping pong medal.
My style is casual-chic? Casual-messy?
If this is the only life, then why I’m not just doing everything I want to do.
Most of the books that I’ve adapted I’m doing because I love the book and I feel like it’s a great work of art in itself, and when it’s a great book I feel as a director or a writer that I have a responsibility to rise to the level of the original. It makes me try to reach higher.
Sometimes it is painful to be oneself; at other times it seems impossible to escape oneself.
I feel there are so many things in this world that have been and are being created that I could spend the rest of my life thinking about, and I couldn’t cover all the things I’m interested in. That to me is what makes life sweet-learning and exploring.