Film school is a complete con, because the information is there if you want it.

The films that I love are very straightforward stories, like really old-fashioned stuff.

No matter how many times you do it, you don’t get used to the sadness – for me at least – of coming to the end of a film.

Clinton used to like to get out of the White House a lot. He would take night trips to McDonald’s, and stuff like that. I think he wanted to get out of the house.

I actually enjoyed the struggles that we had trying to shape ‘Blood’, to get the pacing right, the rhythm of it.

I am always looking for that nuance, that moment of truth, and you can’t really do that fast.

There’s a lot for screenwriters to steal from songwriters, in terms of getting to the point.

I really subscribe to that old adage that you should never let the audience get ahead of you for a second. So if the film’s abrasive and wrongfoots people then, y’know, that’s great. But I...

Kill your television!

I don’t think the competition’s so rough, within the majority of movies made in Hollywood.

You have to be a brat in order to carve out your parameters, and you have to be a monster to anyone who gets in your way. But sometimes it’s difficult to know when that’s...

To make a film, the final big collaborator that you have is the composer.

I remember being taught in school that you would underline things that you liked. I remember just underlining everything as a kid, thinking, ‘This has all gotta be important!’ I would just underline the whole...

I don’t want to be the angry guy.

Screenwriting is like ironing. You move forward a little bit and go back and smooth things out.

Well I’d really love to work with Robert De Niro, because he’s still the most talented actor out there.

It’s a gamble you take, the risk of alienating an audience. But there’s a theory – sometimes it’s better to confuse them for five minutes than let them get ahead of you for 10 seconds.

I had never read Upton Sinclair. I didn’t read ‘The Jungle’ in high school or anything like that. But it’s pretty terrific writing.

Acting is the hardest job in the entire world. By far. Harder than ditch digging.

You know, I’m really not that competent at describing things musically.

As I have got older and become a father, there’s less and less time for films.

I had the standard movie geek childhood, because for as long as I can remember, all I wanted to do was make movies.

How do I respond to criticism? Critically. I listen to all criticism critically.

But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that every time you go to make a film, you’re desperate to either do it better than you did it last time or to not repeat yourself.

I have a feeling, one of those gut feelings, that I’ll make pretty good movies the rest of my life.

I’m completely aware of the fact that I’m a control freak.

I’ll rebel against powers and principalities, all the time. Always, I will.

I always had a dream about trying to make a movie that had no dialogue in it, that was just music and pictures. I still haven’t done it yet, but I tried to get close...

No, really. Just do it. You have some kind of weird reasons that are okay.

I’m not really a Sundance baby, but they helped me so much I feel I have to acknowledge it.

I’ve never been a fan of whimsical or confusing storytelling.

I don’t get a sense of American pride. I just get a sense that everyone is here, battling the same thing – that around the world everybody’s after the same thing, just some minor piece...

I write from my stomach.

My writing has a lot to do with who I am, and what my life is like, and my relationships to people.

I don’t think it’s a director’s job to peek behind the curtain too much.

I think my job is to try and be as honest as I can with what is in my mind and how I feel – I think that’s what you’re supposed to do, if you’re...

Crazy is so hard to play, there’s nothing you can really tell an actor.

Of course, I’m no dummy.

I didn’t have any desire I might have had 10 years ago to shoot every single word that I wrote.

It felt like the first thing, but when I first started out, I got a job adapting a book by Russell Banks called ‘Rule Of The Bone.’ I didn’t do a very good job. I...

My dad was this sort of avant-garde guy who did all kinds of weird things. He was a true original and anybody who met him never forgot him.

So with ‘There Will Be Blood,’ I didn’t even really feel like I was adapting a book. I was just desperate to find stuff to write.

I don’t miss scenes at all the way that I used to miss them when I was younger making a film. It’s actually quite fun to get rid of them now.

My older sister was at the cusp of new wave, and I had older brothers from my father’s first marriage who were rock ‘n’ roll guys, so I was exposed to a lot of popular...