The great thing about Stephen is that he sees the movie as a separate thing, I think. He wants it to capture the essence of the book, and if he feels that's been done, then he's not too particular about the details. I think that's why he's happy.

But, I think that the reason I responded to this book, sort of paradoxically, is that it starts out like The Big Chill, sort of. Four friends, who are not quite happy with their life, and every year they get together for a week and look for some comfort from each other.

Almost every other Western in the last ten years has failed, since Dances with Wolves.

You're not too smart, are you? I like that in a man.

I loved Alien, and I loved Carrie, and I loved The Exorcist - those were big movies for me. They were just brilliantly done, and unusual, and they all took horror to some new place.

I tell you, I feel like a real novice as far as horror goes.

That was certainly true the first time, when I did Body Heat, the first movie that I directed. I was looking for a vessel to tell a certain kind of story, and I was a huge fan of Film Noir, and what I liked about it was that it was so extreme in style.

And you know, when you take on something like this, you read a book like this, you know that it's going to be an adventure. That's part of what draws you to it.

I mean, the trouble with some of the kind of relationship movies I've done, is there's only so many ways you can shoot a conversation. I was really tired of talking heads.

The movies that made me want to make movies were action movies, and thrillers, and Kurosawa films, you know, where you have an opportunity every day to shoot it in an unusual way. I was looking for something like that.

Being a writer is like having homework every night for the rest of your life.

I want everything I do to have humor in it, because it seems to me that all of life has that.

I mean, I really liked those guys and the experience of doing Raiders was really good for me, but I did not really want to be involved - I only did Jedi, as I really owed George a favor.

I didn't really want to do another sequel. I go to those movies, and I just sort of enjoy them like a viewer.

But, George and Steven asked me to write the Indiana Jones sequels, and I didn't want to.

Any story that Billy Wilder told, you can tell in a Western.

It's hard enough to get any movie made, and when you take on these tough genres - and I've done it a couple times - it just makes the whole struggle more.

With Westerns you have the landscape is important, and it's empty, and only you populate it. When you populate it, you can tell any kind story that Shakespeare told, you can tell in a Western.

The kind of pace that you want to use in a Western - just to acknowledge the land in the distance that everyone has to travel, and the way things develop sort of slowly - it's almost the antithetical of what's currently going on in the movies, you know.

What you hope for, like Unforgiven did a lot to give you a chance to do it again sometime.

You know, Stephen says, in the movies no one ever goes to the bathroom. They shave, they brush their teeth. He goes right at this sort of funny taboo we have about the bathroom, and he turned it into this nightmare, you know, your worst fear of what's in there.

I really liked Carrie a lot. That was one of Brian De Palma's best movies.

The great thing about Stephen is that he sees the movie as a separate thing, I think. He wants it to capture the essence of the book, and if he feels that's been done, then he's not too particular about the details. I think that's why he's happy.

I haven't seen Clones, which has been during this period when I haven't seen much of anything, but I did see Phantom Menace, and see my feelings about it - see, first of all, I think that when you make a lot of movies, your attitude about the movies changes.

I had two jobs coming out of school: I did a play, 'The Great White Hope.' I played the boxer Jack Johnson. And I was the lead in this indie film. Then I moved to Los Angeles because New York was cold and it was really too quiet for me at that time. I was out of school; I was hungry. The auditions were trickling in, and I was antsy and ready to go.

Just because you put higher-octane gasoline in your car doesn't mean you can break the speed limit. The speed limit's still 65.

In an expanding universe, time is on the side of the outcast. Those who once inhabited the suburbs of human contempt find that without changing their address they eventually live in the metropolis.

Remember that holiness is not the way to Christ but Christ is the way to holiness.

I take my kids to school. It's what keeps you normal.

I've always worked.

The more we shelter children from every disappointment, the more devastating future disappointments will be.

You don't want to give kids an idea that they might not have thought of.

For great is truth, and shall prevail.

I'm the messiest person I know.

Satire chooses and knows no objects. It arises by fleeing from them and their forcing themselves upon it.

I continued to protect him with my silence.

As a result of Title IX, and a new generation of parents who want their daughters to have the opportunities they never had, women's sports have arrived.

You have to believe in yourself when no one else does - that makes you a winner right there.

It is natural for me not to explain my private life or to answer any questions about my private life.

I don't think people are ever going to a place where they're like, 'I'm over stories about character and love.'

We're all dealt with the same hand here, so to speak. I feel like I've had it a lot better than most people. I've had the opportunity to travel and play music all my life.

A dirty exterior is a great enemy to beauty of all descriptions.

Its a fantastic thing to take the risk of getting so close to your desire expressing your obsession so absolutely.

Layering in different patterns will keep things from appearing too studied.

My folks ain't graduated from high school or nothing like that, so we always had to struggle in the family - and I come from a big family.

Although economists have studied the sensitivity of import and export volumes to changes in the exchange rate, there is still much uncertainty about just how much the dollar must change to bring about any given reduction in our trade deficit.

If Planned Parenthood wants to be involved in providing counseling services and HIV testing, they ought not be in the business of providing abortions.

For an athlete myself, it is especially meaningful for our country to host an Olympics. Every athlete hopes to participate in an Olympics, so I still can't believe the games of dreams is going to take place in Korea.