And the VCR did the same thing: the movie industry thought nobody would ever watch movies any more.

When we were doing 'Freaks and Geeks' I didn't quite understand how movies and TV worked and I would improvise even if the camera wasn't on me. I thought I was helping the other actors by keeping them on their toes but nobody appreciated it when I would trip them up. So I was improvising a little bit back then but not in a productive way.

Even though I make those movies I find myself wishing that more of those magic moments could happen in real life.

I loved the movies and I wanted to be like Marilyn Monroe. I thought she was so glamorous and everyone seemed to love her. I wanted to be like that and I told everyone I would be the next Marilyn Monroe.

In all honesty I think that I've had a very normal life even though I've been making movies since I was 9.

I was watching 'Up In The Air' and I thought 'Jesus who's the old gray-haired guy?' And it was me. I never wear makeup for movies and now it's starting to show.

The movies that are made more thoughtfully or made or with more ambition often get just get drowned out by the noise.

I want to make all kinds of movies. I do want to make big movies that are a lot of fun to go to but I also want to make movies that are going to stimulate some thought and maybe raise some awareness.

I like action movies even though I think action movies are kind of derided now. But there is something extraordinary about action movies which is absolutely linked to the invention of cinema and what cinema is and why we love it.

I think I took my eye off the ball. From about 2005 2006 2007 I was out of it. I thought I could oversee movies and have it done for me so to speak.

I hate movies that tell people what to think. I'm proud that Democrats thought 'Thank You For Smoking' was their film and Republicans thought it was theirs. I'm proud that pro-choice people thought 'Juno' was their film and pro-life people thought it was theirs.

I have been in movies that I thought I wasn't very good in.

I've made movies that we're very successful that we're a complete surprise and I've made movies that I thought we're going to be very successful that you know.

Although charismatic James Dean is no Harrison Ford. In the majority of his movies sooner or later he got the crap beaten out of him.

The next thing I knew I was out of the service and making movies again. My first picture was called GI Blues. I thought I was still in the army.

A film is a petrified fountain of thought.

I don't believe you have to be better than everybody else. I believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be.