We say we embrace humanity, but what does that mean? We are all defined by our limits, so to what extent can we embrace all this? Because we all cont….

When I want to show the kind of meanness people are capable of, to make it believable I find I have to tone it down. It's in real life that people ar….

When I'm asked who my audience is, I say someone with an open mind, which is not a vacant one and sometimes a liberal mind is not the same thing as a….

In particular, people have trouble understanding where I stand in relation to my characters, and very often this gets reduced to me making vicious fu….

So far, at least, I haven't found a way to tell my kind of stories without making them both sad and funny..

Every time you try to make another movie, you never know what will come of it. I can't say it ever gets easier, but it is in it's own way gratifying.….

That is definitely a misunderstanding between me and a part of my audience. To be honest, I am often unsettled by the responses some people have had ….

Art has a smaller audience than, say, movies or other forms of mass consumption. But that doesn't mean the work doesn't have an impact in a way that ….

I mean, I don't want to sound - of course it's very nice, people come up and say appreciative things about my work. But the loss, in terms of privacy….

It's one of the great gifts of having so little money that you are able to make these kinds of radical conceits that you could never afford to do had….

Narcissism and self-deception are survival mechanisms without which many of us might just jump off a bridge..

For me, New Jersey is kind of a mythical place. It's emblematic of a certain aspect of American life. Florida is the same way. It's where people go t….

So much of what a pet is about for us is that it becomes a vessel for yearnings, dreams, illusions, hopes and so forth. It's a projection of the ulti….

Some people will of course accuse me of misanthropy and cynicism. I can't celebrate humanity but I'm not out to indict it either. I just want to expo….

The ability to take pleasure in one's life is a skill and is a kind of intelligence..

Usually the audience has no idea that the censored version of whatever movie they're watching isn't the original..

Optimism is not inherently a superior way of viewing the world. Certainly doctors will say it might be better for one's physical health to be an opti….

People call you "director," but it really should be "economic manager." Because everything is "Well, we can do another take here, but then you're gon….

I don't have a formula. Every time an actor wants me to hold their hand, I hold their hand. If they say, "Stay," I say "Okay, respect." You know? "I'….

The ability to take pleasure in one's life is a skill and is a kind of intelligence. So intelligence is a hard thing to evaluate and it manifests its….

All I mean is, I'm not the kind of audience comedy directors want at a test screening because I seldom laugh, and if I do, it's not very loud. That d….