Even when you have a big budget, you can't just shoot everything.

Making this movie was a great opportunity for me to explore high-definition. I'm glad I got to see what the challenges are, what makes it better. It works wonderfully.

The clothes back in those days were made so much better than clothes are today. They actually took time to make clothes to fit a woman's body. Today they make clothes that fit sizes, so it stretches to fit this and that.

The radio for these women is like television is for us today, which is really like looking at the radio.

A director just pushes them a little this way or that way.

But it was not possible to do this movie, in this matter of time, without a solid rehearsal period.

In scoring we have a lot that was not evident in the shooting. The radio is on all the time.

The biggest challenge was that we had to shoot so quickly and with such a limited budget.

I use something that is a real staple in the directing world. It's called a dance floor. You lay it down so that it's so smooth you can roll around, and you can put furniture on top of it. It's seamless and you don't see it.

It's kind of dangerous to cut in the camera, but that's the only way I know how to direct.

You have to examine a scene on the page first. Then you get into the basics of acting: Who are you? Who are you talking to? How do you feel about that person?

There are some scenes that work beautifully in a moving, sweeping master, which is how I like to work.

Even when you have a big budget, you can't just shoot everything.

As far as pacing the shoot is concerned, I know when I've got it. I don't think there's any reason to take ten takes unless you need them.

That's the only way I can control my movie. If you shoot everything, then everything is liable to end up in the movie. If you have a vision, you don't have to cover every scene.

Michael Ralph brilliantly plays the street prophet, a West Indian who foreshadows the Harlem riot.

The riot isn't seen in the movie, but it is alluded to. He has this one speech that gives a great sense of texture and paints a picture of what was happening in Harlem then.

Everything has to be well thought out - what do you really need, when can you do with less coverage.

Time management is a big part of the director's job.

The production team's first meeting took place at my house. I had ideas and a color scheme in mind, how I wanted the movie to look, because that has to be a real collaboration.

It goes back to a style of moviemaking I remember seeing as a child, in movies like The Man With The Golden Arm, which I think was shot all on a sound stage.

But out of limitations comes creativity.

I got my dailies every day, although I couldn't always look at them because I was usually preparing for the next day's shoot, both as an actress and as the director.

I'm always moving forward.

I design my shots. I walk the rehearsal as the camera and say 'this is where I want to be... I want this look.

I didn't need the insurance. I do it again if my DP tells me it didn't look good in the camera or if the actors didn't hit their marks. But if everything was working why do it again?

My process has changed in recent years because I now have two young kids. I have to be more regimented. The days are very short.

Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn't have to mean public confessions.

Electing a black president was probably the only coup America could pull off.

Its very easy to be different but very difficult to be better.

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.

That's where the money is, on the road.

The Italy of my children will be at head of Europe, economically. Because Italy has all the conditions to be the country of the startups, the country of artisans and quality, and the country of the big companies.

To be clear, geoengineering won't solve global warming. It's not a 'techno-fix.' It would be enormously risky and almost certainly lead to troubling unforeseen consequences.

Let's not pretend that all of a sudden, this is some new system.

'But I don't want to go among mad people,' said Alice. 'Oh, you can't help that,' said the cat. 'We're all mad here.'

It's pointless to have a nice clean desk, because it means you're not doing anything.

Courtney Love is a loose cannon. She says what she thinks. She's wild on the red carpet. You get the best sound bites from Courtney Love.

You're my closest friend and you're thousands of miles away.

Develop an attitude of gratitude and give thanks for everything that happens to you knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.

Let me tell you, the life of a C list celebrity is pretty sweet. If I want to go to an Applebee's, all I have to do is, literally, walk in the door. They seat me as soon as the other people ahead of me are seated.

People never read my books for the quality of the documentary value.

I'm at like 325 pairs right now, give or take. But I've given away about 200 pairs of sneakers. I'm not as big of a collector as I used to be, because I think the game just got weird. Everybody likes to collect now, so it's kind of corny. But I got the essentials.

But I'd rather not predict. I'd rather affect.

I think pain is a very - it's an extremely hard thing to empathize moment to moment. And you often don't remember your own pain, you know, that moment that you broke a limb or you burned yourself or, I think, this is a common thing that women talk about with childbirth, that the memory of the pain is hard to summon up and relive, thankfully.

There's a way of filming where you can get rid of the vanity and of trying to make something beautiful.

Children are far more interesting to work with than grownups. They're incredibly honest. They'll tell you exactly what they think.

Republicans think that the NAACP is the only voice in the black community. It is a voice in the black community. But it's not the only voice.

Nobody wants to see the ship go anywhere. The Navy likes it here, and I believe the city does as well.