I've learned that you can never predict what will happen to a film. You can never predict if people will love it, if they'll hate it. It's an act of ego if you're hoping for everyone to love the film and tell you how great you are.
The conventional wisdom is that people come to the United States, and immigration is so great, and they say, 'America, what a great country.' And a lot of that is true.
Time can be very good or very cruel to films.
I remember as a little kid, I would always feel comfortable if the light in the crack of my parents' door was on at night. When it went off, that meant they were asleep. Then that terror and the fear of being by myself started to creep in.
My grandparents used to tell me stories about their trip to Ellis Island from Russia and life on the Lower East Side of New York.
The life of a film is very strange. Once the film is done, you wish you could forget about it and move on.
The state of being in love is so inherently preposterous. It usually lends itself to romantic comedy. I think we've all been there.
I would love it if my films made a lot of money, and may I say that 'The Yards' is the only one that's lost money.
I have no interest whatsoever in pursuing acting or becoming a mogul. I love writing and directing; I see those two jobs as the most critical in the making of a film.
My wife thinks I have an obsession with social class. So I guess I have an obsession with social class. It probably stems from feeling like an outcast.
My grandparents, they came through Ellis Island in 1923, and you know, I'd heard all the stories.
I start with a mood or an idea that comes from a personal place emotionally, and the narrative concepts come much later.
I feel like it's a real shame that my generation doesn't make an appearance at the opera.
Melodrama and melodramatic are not the same thing, and often people make the mistake of confusing the two.
For me, I get a part of an idea here and a little bit of an idea there, and then finally it accumulates into a movie.
I had written 'Two Lovers' before we started shooting 'We Own the Night.'
I feel that The American Dream is this fallacy that you come to the United States and win lotto. That's a disservice to The American Dream because the American Dream is worth striving for. And it's not easy.
I live up Laurel Canyon, and if I want to walk with my son, I have to drive to the park, which is so insane to me.
Baseball is the greatest thing in the world.
I have no athletic skills whatsoever. I'm just literally incompetent.
I think true economic class unhappiness comes from when across the street someone has a new Cadillac and you can't get that.
