As An Artist, I Feel That We

To Me There Is A Name For Each Person. I Think It’s Marvelous To Have A Name. A Woman Is Not A Woman. It’s Either Gena Or My Mother Or Some Other Person.

There's A Difference Between Ad-libbing And Improvising. And There's A Difference Between Not Knowing What To Do And Just Saying Something. Or Making Choices As An Actor. As A Writer Also, As A Person Who's Making A Film, As A Cameraman, Everything Is A Choice. And It Seems To Me I Don't Really Have To Direct Anyone Or Write Down That Somebody's Getting Drunk; All I Have To Do Is Say That There's A Bottle There And Put A Bottle There And Then They're Going To Get Drunk.

I’ve Never Seen An Exploding Helicopter. I’ve Never Seen Anybody Go And Blow Somebody’s Head Off. So Why Should I Make Films About Them? But I Have Seen People Destroy Themselves In The Smallest Way, I’ve Seen People Withdraw, I’ve Seen People Hide Behind Political Ideas, Behind Dope, Behind The Sexual Revolution, Behind Fascism, Behind Hypocrisy, And I’ve Myself Done All These Things. So I Can Understand Them. What We Are Saying Is So Gentle. It’s Gentleness. We Have Problems, Terrible Problems, But Our Problems Are Human Problems.

We Don't Take The Time To Be Vulnerable With Each Other

I Have The Confidence That I Can Take Anybody And Have Them Give A Good Performance, Because I Don't Think There's Anything To Acting Except Expressing, Being Able To Converse. So If I Can Just Convince Somebody Not To Clean Themselves Up, And Not To Be Someone That They're Not, And Just Be What They Are In Given Circumstances, That's All That Acting Is To Me, And I Don't Think It's Very Difficult.