Egotism is not a good quality. It’s not something to be admired or even tolerated. It wouldn’t be tolerated in a field commander and it shouldn’t be tolerated in a movie director.

I’ve always had trouble with authority.

To be a good executive you have to be strong, and you have to have a simple attribute that people have forgotten about – courage.

No, you’re either born a writer, a storyteller, or you’re not.

You know, I find it very strange when movies that I made that were just excoriated – I mean that I was just vilified for – are now looked at as classics.

I’ve always been able to survive by writing, though.

Also, they don’t understand – writing is language. The use of language. The language to create image, the language to create drama. It requires a skill of learning how to use language.

There is a certain kind of respect for authenticity today that there wasn’t back in the days when they did ‘Cleopatra,’ where everything looked like a giant motel. People want to have it be authentic in the look, and authentic in the way people behave.

I’m the barbarian of Hollywood.

A lot of directors don’t know what they want to do. Every director I’ve seen that was a good director that I’ve admired knew exactly what he wanted to do. They didn’t sit there and think about it.