If you're doing a drama that has some comedic elements you can't forget that it's primarily a very serious film that has some light relief.
All my films are shot on hand-held cameras. These cameras took five years to build and had to be light enough to be carried.
You really have to soak up the culture of the people to get it right. If you're making a fiction film, it's entertainment, but you want it to be as real as possible.
Samurai films, like westerns, need not be familiar genre stories. They can expand to contain stories of ethical challenges and human tragedy.
Independent films, for the most part, to me, are not so independent. They often feel like people auditioning for a big commercial career. They often do not have independent spirit to them.
I like French films, Chabrol in particular. With him, you often get a skewed morality in which you sympathise with the person you shouldn't.
I did put on weight for the last half of the film, but the Ferris wheel scene was shot with a harness on me so that if I fell I wouldn't fall all the way.
A really irritating thing when you're watching a film is if somebody's accent isn't bang-on - it distracts you from getting into the story because you're thinking: 'Where are they from?'
I am not an insecure actor, and this reflects in the films I have done. Yes, there was a phase when I was adamant on solo hero roles, but that is over now.
This was in '79. I got pretty restless there, sitting around with a lot of people sitting around smoking cigarettes and talking about films, but nobody really doing anything.
At that point, the movie was called Wild Force. Everything fell apart, eventually - our financing completely fell apart - and we were never able to make that film.
I like making films about different cultures. I'm interested in things that I've never encountered before. I try to put myself in the audience's position.
When you're making a film all by yourself, that requires you to have quite a bit of a point of view in order for anything to get done.
I also have a film coming up called Breaking Up, and my part in that was not written for a Latina, and my character is not particularly pretty or sexy or exotic.
There has never been a female director who has won an Oscar. There has only been one woman who won at the Cannes Film Festival.
I have actually directed over thirty plays and about one hundred commercials for cable TV, but have not yet had the opportunity to direct a feature film.
Sometimes, I feel the reason I have become a star beyond my films is that I am politically incorrect.
As a painter you're responsible yourself, 100 percent. In film, you have the editor, the director, the other actors. It has the advantage of not being solitary.
Many comedic stars have tried to a do a 'Night at the Museum' type film, in which an everyday Joe reacts to insane circumstances. Many flat out failed.
There's an unwritten law that you cannot have a Jewish character in a film who isn't 100 percent perfect, or you're labeled anti-Semitic.
'Do the Right Thing' was like the first film where I really felt comfortable working with actors.
