I never stopped studying Buddhism. In the past few years in between movies I do a retreat.

I watch movies occasionally and I watch documentaries. Virtually nothing else.

I think more than writers the major influences on me have been European movies jazz and Abstract Expressionism.

I think there's an instinct to make grotesque horror films that are purely carnal like the 'Saw' movies.

When I go into making a movie personally I don't try to bring other pieces of movies with me.

Violent behavior exists in one's psychological makeup much deeper than the level that receives information from television or movies.

I'm always working on stuff. But they never materialize. I'm always working on movies and TV shows.

When they make a woman's picture they treat it like a 'woman's picture.' In the '40s they didn't treat Joan Crawford movies like that but as the big movies of their year. I'm upset that there's no 'Terminator' with a woman in Arnold Schwarzenegger's role. Because that would make just as much money.

The way Hollywood portrays mothers - you're either all good and saint-like or you're all bad. And I think the real honesty of motherhood is not given a voice in movies. I miss that as an audience member.

Skinniness is not your friend when you're over 40. I'd like to gain a good 10 pounds but I did always have a fat round face that plagued me when I was young. When I started to make movies I couldn't look at myself.