“I've made some bad movies. And I really enjoyed it!”

“I like action movies, even though I think action movies are kind of derided now. But there is something extraordinary about action movies, which is absolutely linked to the invention of cinema and what cinema is and why we love it.”

“I think our culture has gotten so skewed. People assume that because you're an actor you want to write a book to exploit your celebrity, but my celebrity is only a byproduct of me making movies. I have no intention of being a celebrity.”

“The movies people don't talk about or remember after six months' time don't really matter.”

“When I finally got up to Industrial Light And Magic to work on the 'Star Wars' movies as a model-maker, it felt like dying and going to heaven.”

“The only reason anyone goes to Broadway is because they can't get work in the movies.”

“When I got depressed, I watched Bruce Lee movies. I learned everything from Bruce Lee.”

“Most of the movies I saw growing up were viewed as totally disposable, fine for quick consumption, but they have survived 50 years and are still growing.”

“I've always been a movie guy, movies have been my thing. I love movies, all kinds of movies.”

“Movies absorb our attention more completely, I think.”

“The really courageous and bold thing is to make movies about human behaviour.”

“To be honest, I don't enjoy watching movies much when I'm working. They tend to fall apart on me a bit.”

“There's no question that Whale's movies are classics. They were wonderful, and successful.”

“There's this index that tallies up how much your movies have made, and if they haven't grossed a certain amount, then you're not bankable. I know I'm not Will Smith but, you know, my ranking's pretty low. The only studio picture I've done is 'Zodiac,' and that didn't perform that well.”

“I never really got nightmares from movies. In fact, I recall my father saying when I was three years old that I would be scared, but I never was.”

“I think movies do play a valuable role in turning people on to the act of reading. I think that phenomenon just creates readers. At first they're going to love 'Harry Potter,' or they may love 'The Hunger Games,' but after that, they're going to love the act of reading and wonder, 'What else can I read?'”

“My wife comes with me on all the movies, but she is not an appendage to a film star or anything like that. She is a completely intertwined partner. She is the other half of me. Also, we're still very much in love with each other. We always have been, we always will be.”

“I find that movies tend to fix the aesthetics of a story in people's minds.”

“I want to do movies that I'm proud of where my kids, at some point, can see and I can feel comfortable sitting there watching it with them. And just that move people. That make people feel a little bit better about themselves when they leave the theatre.”

“I've kind of come to the conclusion that what passes for realism in movies has nothing to do with reality and that my stuff is more realistic than that.”

“I always leave that for other people to decide, because some of the things I consider to be disasters are some people's favorite movies. And that's what I like so much, is that you never know. Something intrigues somebody and means nothing to somebody else.”