In theater, you are there, you have a character, you have a play, you have a light, you have a set, you have an audience, and you're in control, and every night is different depending on you and the relationship with the other actors. It's as simple as that.
Every time I come to the States, I wish people would react to war like they react to tobacco, for example. Because war really kills in a second lots of people, thousands of people.
I didn't go to university, and so, every time that I work, I'm looking for a teacher in a way. I'm looking for people that I can learn from and to have the chance to work with people that I admire.
I don't have this feeling like, 'Oh, I want to live in the United States and make movies and become famous just because the money is here.' I like to make movies that tell stories that I care about.
I've got two young children, so holidays are not the same as they used to be. There are now two types: family holidays and holidays you need from that holiday.
I think film is a world of directors. Theater is a world of actors.
I hate fights. I try to talk people out of fighting if I can and if they start I run away.
With many things in life, you're there because there's a cute girl around that you want to go out with, and you end up finding magic. You end up not caring about the girl but wanting to stay there because of what you found. That happened with 'Amarcord' to me.
I grew up watching cinema in my country that wasn't telling stories about us, and we had to find a way to connect, and our references, our role models had nothing to do with us. And I'm so glad that it's changing.
We consumers have to send a message every day of what we want and what we don't.
The first time I heard the Mars Volta, I had a feeling I was experiencing something that people must have felt when they first heard Led Zeppelin. They have the same kind of power.
In a movie, you work three months to tell a story that happens in two hours. In a Mexican soap opera, you work one day to make a story that's an hour and a half. So you can see the difference in the quality of the project.
Becoming a father is the biggest change you go through in life - at least that I've gone through in life.
I think film can change lives. Doing 'Milk' changed mine, for sure. When I see that someone like Harvey Milk changed his life and the lives of many others in just eight years, I feel powerful. I go out of the cinema saying, 'Maybe there's something I can do, too.'
I hope we see more stories where the heroes are real heroes, real people that don't need weapons or super powers to change people's lives.
Everywhere you look, especially on TV, someone is promising to make you rich and famous.
You don't want everyone to know everything about you.
I don't want to do a history lesson. I don't think cinema should be about that. Cinema should be about emotions.
I wish parents at the end would think a little bit about how everything we do affects the lives of our kids and defines who they're going to be.
I was six when I started working in theater. I chose to be an adult before I should be.
