The most important thing is the script.

People say you should do it this way, someone else suggests that, yes, there's financing, but maybe you should use this actor. And there are the threats, at the end -- if you don't do it this way, you'll lose your box office; if you don't do it that way, you'll never get financed again... 35, 40 years of this, you get beat up.

Vic Armstrong is, of course, a legend.

The creation of the island, or the impression of the island, as it changes in the mind of the character also came in to play... there was another very important collaborator, Rob Legato, on special visual effects. And then ultimately there's Thelma Schoonmaker, who keeps me focused during the editing of the picture.

Rock and roll seemed to just come to us, on the radio and in the record stores. It became our music... But then we uncovered another, deeper level, the history behind rock and RandB, the music behind our music. All roads led to the source, which was the blues.

Kubrick was unique in the sense that with each new film he redefined the medium and its possibilities. But he was more than just a technical innovator. Like all visionaries, he spoke the truth. And no matter how comfortable we think we are with the truth, it always comes as a profound shock when we're forced to meet it face-to-face.

I don't think there's a subject matter that can't absorb 3-D; that can't tolerate the addition of depth as a storytelling technique.

If everything moves along and there are no major catastrophes we're basically headed towards holograms.

I happen to like vampires more than zombies.

If you're looking for the origins of film culture in America, look no further than Amos Vogel.

I'm in a different chapter of my life. As time goes by and I grow older, I find that I need to just be quiet and think. There have been periods when I've locked myself away for days, but now it's different -- I'm married and we have a daughter who is in my office the whole time.

As a kid I watched the Academy Awards on television and always wanted one -- or several -- like one of my favorite directions, John Ford. He won six. On the other hand, Orson Welles, who's on the top of my list, didn't win any. Alfred Hitchcock didn't win any. Howard Hawks didn't win any.

An interviewer once asked me to discuss my collaboration with Elmer Bernstein, and precisely why I chose to work with him. My first thought was: How could I not work with Elmer, when I had the chance? Simply put, he's the best there is-the very best.

Mean Streets dealt with the American Dream, according to which everybody thinks they can get rich quick, and if they can't do it by legal means then they'll do it by illegal ones.

I always say that I've been in a bad mood for maybe 35 years now. I try to lighten it up, but that's what comes out when you get me on camera.

Cinema is a matter of what's in the frame and what's out.

Always get to the set or the location early, so that you can be all alone and draw your inspiration for the blocking and the setups in private and quiet.

I just -- I kind of see it that way. I find the higher angles down. I do -- look, you can go back to the staircase shots in Third Man or the staircase in La Dolce Vita. So I just find that visual construction in a frame.

I think if you think of yourself as religious and if you're given a gift, some may not think it's that great a gift -- some critics. But others might, you know. So you say, look -- whether it's good, bad or indifferent, this is what I do.

In truly great films -- the ones that people need to make, the ones that start speaking through them, the ones that keep moving into territory that is more and more unfathomable and uncomfortable -- nothing's ever simple or neatly resolved. You're left with a mystery.