If the film has a seductive nature at all, it’s there to draw the viewer in, but I create the visuals in a way that seems absolutely inevitable to me.

There should be more women directing; I think there’s just not the awareness that it’s really possible.

If there’s specific resistance to women making movies, I just choose to ignore that as an obstacle for two reasons: I can’t change my gender, and I refuse to stop making movies.

When he brought it to me four years ago, Rodney King had just arrived, I was involved in the clean-up of L.A. and I guess it was part of my experience.

My movement from painting to film was a very conscious one.

When I made my first film, I didn’t think of it as directing, so it wasn’t like I set out to become a director.

On the other hand, I believe there’s hope, because the breakdown and the repair are happening simultaneously.

When James Cameron brought me the script, which I developed with both Cameron and Jay Cocks, I wanted to make it a thriller, an action film, but with a conscience, and I found that it...

Art does imitate life, and the Rodney King beating was a real event. It’s a part of all our consciousness, and there’s no value in ignoring it.

One of the elements in the film that really fascinated me was not to look at the world in bi-polar terms of us vs them or east vs west, which was a by-product of the...

Whereas painting is a more rarefied art form, with a limited audience, I recognized film as this extraordinary social tool that could reach tremendous numbers of people.

Character and emotionality don’t always have to be relegated to quieter, more simple constructs.

One should make morals judgements for oneself.

You never think the universe will reward your first choice – it just doesn’t work like that.

I did a pilot for Anything But Love in 1988 that didn’t sell.

Our film examines the heroism, courage and prowess of the Soviet submarine force in ways never seen before.

I don’t believe in censorship in any form.

Right now, there’s the illusion of order and civilization, but there’s a tremendous amount of economic tension in this country and the educational system is constantly eroding.

I don’t want to be made pacified or made comfortable. I like stuff that gets your adrenaline going.

Something becomes personal when it deviates from the norm.

I like high impact movies.

The Communist regime didn’t consider this to be a shining moment in history and assigned no heroism to it. They classified it as merely an accident.

I think violence in a cinematic context can be, if handled in a certain way, very seductive.

The urge to purge the material I come up with is, I guess, an ongoing process.