I think cinema, movies, and magic have always been closely associated. The very earliest people who made film were magicians.
The essence of cinema is editing. It's the combination of what can be extraordinary images of people during emotional moments, or images in a general sense, put together in a kind of alchemy.
We had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little, we went insane.
You have to really be courageous about your instincts and your ideas. Otherwise you'll just knuckle under, and things that might have been memorable will be lost.
Anything you build on a large scale or with intense passion invites chaos.
I don't think there's any artist of any value who doesn't doubt what they're doing.
We were raised in an Italian-American household, although we didn't speak Italian in the house. We were very proud of being Italian, and had Italian music, ate Italian food.
My film is not a movie; it's not about Vietnam. It is Vietnam.
I think it's better to be overly ambitious and fail than to be underambitious and succeed in a mundane way. I have been very fortunate. I failed upward in my life!
When I was about 9, I had polio, and people were very frightened for their children, so you tended to be isolated. I was paralyzed for a while, so I watched television.
It takes no imagination to live within your means.
The most adventurous thing I've done is learn how to fly a helicopter in the Philippines. One night we landed on a beach and slept on it.
When I was sixteen or seventeen, I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to be a playwright. But everything I wrote, I thought, was weak. And I can remember falling asleep in tears because I had no talent the way I wanted to have.
I believe that filmmaking - as, probably, is everything - is a game you should play with all your cards, and all your dice, and whatever else you've got. So, each time I make a movie, I give it everything I have. I think everyone should, and I think everyone should do everything they do that way.
Art depends on luck and talent.
I was raised as a Catholic, but I didn't like the Catholic Church at all. I thought the nuns were mean.
The internet in hotels should be free - and I really resent it when they charge you five dollars for a bottle of water beside your bed.
You ought to love what you're doing because, especially in a movie, over time you really will start to hate it.
I probably have genius. But no talent.
'The Godfather' changed my life, for better or worse. It definitely made me have an older man's film career when I was 29.
