When I was a kid I loved 'The Curse of Frankenstein ' 'The Creeping Unknown ' 'X: The Unknown.' I love 'Forbidden Planet ' 'The Thing from Another World.' They were science fiction/horror movies generally.

I was born in 1950 and watched science fiction and horror movies on TV and was always really fascinated by them.

I would be more frightened as a writer if people thought my movies were like science fiction.

I think it's sad that movies and television have caused the theatre to fade as a popular art form. I hope to get young people into the theatre and expose them to Shakespeare.

Film-makers are always going to be interested in making movies that plug into society around them. That's what a vibrant artistically alert community should be doing. After all it would be sad if we only made films about alien robots.

I never get scared making these kinds of movies because it's all make-believe but I did cry when I saw the finished version of Man On Fire because it is so sad.

I so desperately hate to end these movies that the first thing I do when I'm done is write another one. Then I don't feel sad about having to leave and everybody going away.

The thing about romance and romantic movies is that they can be somewhat melodramatic. For a lot of actors there's a certain cringe factor that's involved with that.

You won't find me in a romantic comedy. Those movies don't speak to me. People don't come to talk to me about those scripts because they probably think I'm this dark twisted miserable person.

In the movies Bette Davis lights two cigarettes and hands the second one to James Cagney. It was just so glamorous and romantic.