People wrestle sometimes making movies and I think that conflict is a very essential thing. I think a lot of very happy productions have produced a lot of very banal movies.

There are a lot of things that come to bear on movies now that I don't think are good for movies. They're trying to appeal to the biggest demographic and when they do that you sometimes flatten out.

Making movies is difficult and you get disorientated sometimes - even when you're working with fantastic talent.

I like the idea of movies having a magic element. How many times have you seen an actor in a movie who you know only as the character? It's wonderful isn't it?

I think it's more interesting to see people who don't feel appropriately. I relate to that because sometimes I don't feel anything at all for things I'm supposed to and other times I feel too much. It's not always like it is in the movies.

A lot of times you get credit for stuff in your movies you didn't intend to be there.

Most of the time it's the role. Sometimes it's the story and sometimes it just the paycheck. It's the little movies that come out as stories or the fact that I have work to go out you know what I'm saying you can only be out so long without work you start getting antsy.

I used to love to go to the movies - I'd see two in a row. A few times I even snuck into the second movie after it started... now that I think about it that's kind of like shoplifting! Needless to say I still love going to the movies but I don't sneak in anymore.

You take somebody that cries their goddam eyes out over phoney stuff in the movies and nine times out of ten they're mean bastards at heart.

I wanted to do another movie that could make us laugh and cry and feel good about the world. I wanted to do something else that could make us smile. This is a time when we need to smile more and Hollywood movies are supposed to do that for people in difficult times.

Sometimes in movies I still have to be the hero but it's not all that important to me anymore.

Am I a romantic? I've seen 'Wuthering Heights' ten times. I'm a romantic.

Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.

I'm pretty much a 9-to-5 kind of guy. I usually get to work about 8 in the morning and I work until 4 or 5 and sometimes I work on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Pretty much I keep the same hours as an accountant or clerk or whatever.

Sometimes I sit down to sketch at the unearthly hour of 3 in the morning!

There we times when everybody in the house has the flu. You're cleaning up vomit and it's 2 in the morning and you're wishing there was somebody else there to help you.

Sometimes I miss out the morning's painting session and instead study my Japanese books in the open.