I think a story should take as long to tell as it is appropriate to that particular story.

I am fascinated with times past.

I think once you've finished a movie you really have to detach from it so that you can come back and watch it as an audience member.

I think a story should take as long to tell as it is appropriate to that particular story.

Visual storytelling of one kind or another has been around since cavemen were drawing on the walls.

And I don't think I'm giving away any secrets here, but there are a lot of terrible scripts in this town.

To me, length is an artificial and arbitrary factor in a film.

Boy, I'd hate to shoot on tape or disc or whatever the hell they're talking about. I love film.

A director shouldn't get in the way of the movie, the story should.

Some of us have great original ideas and some of us depend on adaptations.

'The Exorcist' is amazing because it recognizes that silences can be as powerful as sound effects.

I spent 20 years of my career primarily being a writer for hire.

I'd like to think that my films are personal enough to exist without hearkening back to their respective novels.

One of my favorite movies of all time is 'It's A Wonderful Life,' which is a pretty interesting choice for a seasonal Christmas favorite, because it's about a guy who wants to commit suicide and is presented with reasons not to.

Stanley Kubrick was a big inspiration. People accuse me of never using my own material. But when did Kubrick? You look at his films and they are completely unique... completely separate entities.

The human race is fundamentally insane. If you put two of us into a room together, we're soon gonna start figuring out good reasons to kill one another.

The only person who can, with impunity, make the movie he wants to make, has got to be Steven Spielberg.

Even though I am an actor, by nature I am what you could call a homely girl.

I'm not promoting anything totally unhealthy because I'm not unhealthy. But I am promoting an ideal that's not attainable, and for that I have to feel guilty. I have to assume some blame for that.

I actually learned the guitar with the help of a Pete Seeger instructional record when I was 13 or 14.

I believe in marriage and fidelity.

Life is so short. I would rather sing one song than interpret the thousand.

Casino gambling is colorful and dramatic and theatrical.

Doing a lot of drama earlier in my career and now exploring comedy has been a treat for me, and I've had an absolute blast, and I hope to continue.

The more you know of your history, the more liberated you are.

I am not concerned with truth, nor with conventional notions of what is beautiful.

I still believe in marriage.

I have three Defensive Players of the Year. Only one other player has done that. But being a defensive lineman, it's hard to control the game.

I was a disadvantaged child from a non-educated family, yet I had the advantage of being in the company of great teachers.

I've never really been one to try to be politically correct. I just feel truth is truth, and sometimes I probably offend some people.

I want our company to leave a legacy of learning to find the balance between what's good and what's good for you.

And oftentimes excusing of a fault doth make the fault the worse by the excuse.

Why can't jazz musicians just leave a melody alone?

Mind is the great lever of all things; human thought is the process by which human ends are ultimately answered.

When you drink fluoridated water, you're drinking liquid Prozac. You drink enough of it, even though it's a small amount, drink it for decades and decades and what does Prozac do to you? It dumbs you down; it makes you docile.

There is no such uncertainty as a sure thing.

All of Britain's aid is spent in Britain's national interests, and some of it contributes to Britain's national security as well.

The opponents of this process have always tried to vilify westernization as a poor imitation.

The real meaning of enlightenment is to gaze with undimmed eyes on all darkness.

You can't just walk away when somebody recognizes you. You have to take some time out and talk to them. It's not a waste of time - I just love talking to people. And I don't do this to sell records. The truth is, I do what I do because I love it.

If 'extreme' means that I am unwilling to go to Washington, D.C., and do what President Obama tells me, then so be it. But I am certainly not going to Washington, D.C. to represent the interests of D.C. I'm going there to represent Colorado values.