I’m always cautious about overstepping any boundaries. At the end of the day, it’s a director’s medium, and if they don’t want to hear from me I just step back.
He’s famous for being obsessive about details.
I’ve gotten much better at multi-tasking. It’s hard, though. But, writing a script is not totally focused. You’re taking little breaks, all the time. If a kid runs in, you give ’em a horsey ride. It’s a pretty fluid process.
I’ve passed on a lot of huge-money jobs. Money doesn’t enter into the decision-making. If I do a big blockbuster, it’s about how big an audience you’ll get and where you can take them.
As somebody who makes his living in the movie business and wants to contribute to it, I think that the best chance I have of doing that is just consistently working with great directors.
I’ve been really lucky. I’ll completely forget that I’m a celebrity. And then something will happen, and I’ll go, ‘Oh, right.’
If you work at something, you get better at it.
I think marrying somebody who’s not a celebrity, it just takes a lot of the pressure off.
I don’t see as many movies as I used to. Or, I should say, as many movies as I would like to.
The very first big photo shoot I ever did was with Bruce Weber. I couldn’t believe this guy was taking my picture, so when he told me to get in the bathtub, I just did. It’s only now, looking back, that I realise, you don’t have to do everything people tell you.
The thing that I like about Germany is that Germans are so much like us. It’s not like going to some other countries, where the differences are overwhelming and you walk around in a fog. Germans are so similar to Americans.
If you are writing a story and trying to draw an audience to come and hear you tell it, it’s got to in some way relate to them. Who wants to come and hear about your specific problems? It’s not therapy – it’s supposed to be a communal piece of entertainment.
I can’t think of any more important value to instill in our children than the desire to help others. I feel strongly about setting an example for them. Real problems can be solved by the next generation if we instill in them the right values.
Some people just see the glory and they don’t want to know about the story.
I fell in love with a civilian. Not an actress and not a famous actress at that. Because then the attention doesn’t double – it grows exponentially. Because then suddenly everybody wants to be in your bedroom. But I don’t really give them anything.
Liberty is a soul’s right to breathe.
Paranoid is what people who are trying to take advantage call you in an effort to get you to drop your guard.
It’s better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody.
The better the actor, the less you know about his life. I mean, nobody’s better than De Niro and you don’t know anything about him, right?
It’s intuitive in terms of when I read a piece of material or I hear about a project. I’m a writer, so I’ve written movies. I’ve read at this point thousands and thousands and thousands of screenplays. So if something gets me, then I don’t ignore that.