The Best Cinema Is About Ethics.

As The Years Go By And I Make More Films, I Am Increasingly Interested In Capturing Place As A Vivid Backdrop For My Films.

I'm Considered To Some Degree A Successful Director Working In Hollywood, Making Films My Way But Using Studio Financing. But With Almost Every Single One, I Get Praised Up The Wazoo By People Who Never Would Have Financed The Films. It's: "gee, This Movie Is So New And Different - What Do You Want To Do Next?" "this." "oh, That's Too New And Different."

If You're Not Making Epic, Archetypal Films On Some Level, I Think You're Wasting A Great Potential Of Cinema.

Were "a Clockwork Orange" Or "blue Velvet" Released Today, Would They Have The Same Power To Shock That They Had When They Came Out? Are We Too Inured By That Torrent Of Images And The Ridiculousness Of Modern Political Life, So That Nothing Shocks Us Anymore? What Does It Take To Shock Someone Today - Or At Least Jolt Them? I Don't Have An Answer. I'm Just Asking The Question.

I Still Have Energy And Some Degree Of Youth, Which Is What A Filmmaker Needs.