I had no plans to be a director.

You make sure that there's a structure that's interesting for them to play on top of, then do temp versions and try it on the film. By the time the players come to the recording session, I've found what works. So I'm not wasting their time.

I would certainly say that films like Time Code and the Loss of Sexual Innocence were far more rewarding to me in terms of being able to move forward as a filmmaker.

One of the things I love about cinema is the range.

Each film is different. Time Code was very quick - a matter of months. Miss Julie has been on my shelf as a script for some seven or eight years. But then the shooting process was very quick - 16 days.

Obviously, I try to make the films work for an audience. That's the main point of making a film, and in retrospect, one can see that certain films, let's say Leaving Las Vegas, demonstrated its own success.

I like to work my camera as if it were a musical instrument.

There's a sadness to the human condition that I think music is good for. It gives a counterpoint to the visual beauty, and adds depth to pictures that they wouldn't have if the music wasn't there.

In discussing the process with the actors, I made it clear to them that they could improvise but that the sum total of their improvisation needed to impart certain plot points, and schematic material.

I'm a huge fan of world cinema, because each country uses cinema in a very individual way.

It's difficult working with very rich actors, because inevitably they become a little spoilt, and the managers and agents tend to control things more than is healthy.

You can do really slow movements with it, like zooming in for a minute and a half. The audience isn't aware that the camera has moved, but there's subconscious tension there.

Films take up so much time, and with theatre, you do have to plan a period of time that you can be free.

I've held onto little musical sketches that I thought could be useful, and the more time that I spend doing them for each film, then the more I have to draw on.

There's nothing I've done which I'm ashamed of or I thought was actually bad.

The world is an infinitely fascinating, tragic and humorous place.

I started using film as part of live theatre performance - what used to be called performance art - and I became intrigued by film.

I've spent my life hearing people trying to apologize for music.

I want the score to have a really big voice.

The power of sound to put an audience in a certain psychological state is vastly undervalued. And the more you know about music and harmony, the more you can do with that.

In a way, the history of jazz's development is a small mirror of classical music's development through the centuries. Now jazz is a living form of original music, while classical music has gotten to the end of its cycle in terms of exploring its form.

I might have a guitar or a piano on set to play something for the actors.

Then I became interested in drama, and almost by accident, I drifted into film.

I had no plans to be a director.

But I don't have such a strong desire to need to get away from filmmaking.

When I do the music, I make the musicians listen to what's happening in the film. That way they treat the dialogue as if it was a singer.

I am intrigued enough to want to continue, and also to try and work with companies like Sony on modifying the cameras and making them more user-friendly and efficient.

I play piano and trumpet. I studied classical guitar.

Bridges are built not to cross over it but it is built to lift you to the other side safely.

The best gifts anyone can give to themselves are good health habits.

To be a bodyguard is to be a kamikaze pilot. Dedicated.

Network marketing is really the greatest source of grass-roots capitalism, because it teaches people how to take a small bit of capital, that is your time, and build the American dream.

I watch a lot of sport on television. I only watch certain sports, and I only watch them live - I don't think I've ever been able to watch a replay of a match or game of which the result was already decided. I feel bound to cheat and look up what can be looked up.

Camp David is a wonderful place for the family to get away and run around and do goofy things.

Secret enmities are more to be feared than open ones.

I think there is a generation gap. I personally look forward to, as our generation becomes the leaders, you are gonna see a change, and I think hopefully gay marriage will be a part of that country.

It brings up happy old days when I was only a farmer and not an agriculturist.

I've always been interested in exploring the concept of child prodigies. When I was younger, I wrote a story about Mozart as a child, and I just always loved this idea of young people who are able to take control of their lives and bring a whole lot of change at such a young age.

A female friend who caught me watching Fashion TV reckons its audience is largely made up of slobbering men who are just taking a break from the appalling Men & Motors channel. I don't agree.

Being outside the candy store looking in is the state of people today. Whether you're in a Pakistani village watching somebody in a car drive by, or you're in the city of Lahore going to a restaurant and seeing somebody with a security entourage coming in... you're exposed to people with more.

I got into beards right in the middle of the hipster boom.

Don't fight with the pillow, but lay down your head and kick every worriment out of the bed.

We moved to Gambia from Sweden when I was six years old because my dad was from there. It was definitely a culture shock.

You're not going to say anything about me that I'm not going to say about myself. There's so many things that I think about myself; if someone really wanted to get at me, they could say this and this and this. So I'm going to say it before they can. It's the best policy for me.

There's never going to be a great misunderstanding of me. I think I'm a little whacked.

I spent most of the '60s, when I was starting to try to write novels, living and working in Greece and Turkey. These are countries where the ancient past is interfused with the daily present, and I remember being struck with wonder at the constant sense of continuity and connection, the reminders that lie in wait for you at every turn.

There are essential elements for our public schools to fully develop the potential of both students and educators. They should be centers of community, where students, families and educators work together to support student success. They should foster collaboration.

You are the only one who can create an incredible world around you, or destroy yourself.

Memorial services are the cocktail parties of the geriatric set.