The First Amendment is the First Amendment for a reason - our most cherished right. But it often creates muddy and uncomfortable situations, ones that are the source of great drama and national self-reflection.
I've been a huge fan of Steven Bochco's for over two decades.
When you make a movie like 'Straw Dogs,' your goal is to have people's eyes remain glued to the screen. It serves you no purpose to turn away from the screen.
'Nothing But the Truth' is a journalistic thriller that is set during the end of days for print media.
I grew up with an infestation of politics. I'm just nuts about it. It's our form of gladiators in the arena, only they are not in quite as good a shape.
He may not have been a good actor, and I personally don't think he was a good president, but I'll tell you this: Ronald Reagan was a helluva character.
I fell in love with 'Ben Hur' when I was 8 years old, and I just knew I had to be involved in movies, even if I was the guy who melted the butter on the popcorn.
The common denominator of the great women leaders in the world - Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meir - is that they're dramatically nonsexual.
I can't stand to see myself on TV.
The point of remaking 'Straw Dogs' is not to replicate the philosophies of Sam Peckinpah at all. What made that film singular was the attitude that he brought to the characters. Oddly enough, that's the one thing that I really wanted to change.
I grew up in the home of a political cartoonist, so I was a junkie for politics.
No matter how far they rise, women never stop being the caregiver. At the end of the day, women bear the emotional responsibility for their families.
Somebody - and I'm going to guess it was Hitchcock - once said that everyone has their reasons. If you remember that, as a writer, you'll write better than average villains.
You learn quite a bit about your film from test screening audiences.
I was just nine years old when 'Straw Dogs' came out, so I can't really speak to the women of the time, but I can tell you that the women of 2011 are not put-upon, and they're not victims.
'All the President's Men' is a movie that has a very personal place for me because it made me want to be a journalist, and then it made me want to be a filmmaker.
When you do a freeze frame, you have the opportunity to find the exact shot that you want - no guessing.
Finding out you're able to do something doesn't necessarily mean you want to do it.
What makes a man is when you go against your own instincts to do to the right thing.
There are a lot of westerns that deal with people standing up for their principles, and that is the predominant theme that has been in my films.
