Uncle Brett had a definite vision that he was after I don't think having a famous father affected him much.

I felt no pressure that my grandfather was famous and my uncle was famous.

I studied Japanese language and culture in college and graduate school and afterward went to work in Tokyo where I met a young man whose father was a famous businessman and whose mother was a geisha.

I hear the way people talk about the children of famous people. They're not treated very well. The presumptions are usually quite awful. So I tried to establish myself with a couple of movies. After 'Juno' I thought: 'I think I've defined myself enough as my own director that I'd love to work with my father.'

I've always been part of comedy. One of the things about our family was that if we were reasonably funny with each other particularly my two brothers and myself when my father was upset with something you'd want to make sure in some way you made him laugh. Because when he didn't laugh you were in trouble!

My father really was not the dominant person who raised the family it was my mother who raised the family.

While I have felt lonely many times in my life the oddest feeling of all was after my mother Lucille died. My father had already died but I always had some attachment to our big family while she was alive. It seems strange to say now that I felt so lonely yet I did.

I remember saying goodbye to my father the night he left to join the Navy. He didn't have to. He was older than other servicemen and had a family to support but he wanted to be a part of the fight against fascism not just make movies about it. I admired this about him.

It has to be real and I think a lot of the problems we have as a society is because we don't acknowledge that family is important and it has to be people who are present you know and mothers and fathers both are not present enough with children.

Until he lost all his money my father was a successful north London Jewish businessman. He was unusual among his immediate family in that he was enormously cultured and had an incredible library.