I think these movies are as much for people of that time as for people who weren't born. For people who weren't born, they see how leaders must act under a crisis situation, not trying to be re-elected or not trying to check polls, that they go from their gut check.
A lot of people are in politics to make friends, too, instead of making positive change. They're worried about getting re-elected.
I'm lucky to be alive. I'm one of only 40 people who have survived the surgery I had, and when you've been that close to dying, you re-evaluate what's really important to you - and it's nothing to do with fame and money.
I want to give people theories, I want to expose them to scientific stories that force them to re-evaluate the way they use these three pounds of meat inside their head.
I wanted to re-examine stories people think they know without the rose-colored glasses of Hollywood and let the audience decide for themselves if people like Wyatt Earp were sinners or victims of life circumstances.
I don't think many people will re-read 'The Da Vinci Code.'
I've never read a book or attended a class on screenwriting. I'm not opposed to the idea, but I like what I've got going on naturally and want to protect that. The one question I will ask myself as I'm re-reading a script for the 60th time is, 'Am I entertained? Still?' If the answer is 'yes,' I'll assume other people will be, too.
People react to fear, not love; they don't teach that in Sunday School, but it's true.
Art is so subjective, and people can react however they want.
Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you're in control, they're in control.
The only thing that I've really noticed in my own experience is just people kind of saying that a woman, when they react to something exciting, 'Oh, that's a masculine way of reacting.' And to me, that's absurd. It's like, that's how humans - they get excited, and you yell, and you jump, and you flex. That's what you do.
I'm more alarmed by people reacting violently to the violence in my films than I am by the violence in films.
It didn't take long for the world to realize that the Shah was an enlightened liberal next to the bloody reactionary regime that followed, and which executed more people in three months than the Shah had done in 30 years.
We oppose the reactionary policies of the U.S. government but we do not oppose the American people. We want to have many good friends in the United States.
I think a lot of people like hidden-camera shows where they think they're spying on somebody who doesn't know they're looking at them. And nobody takes it seriously - you either enjoy it and get a laugh out of the reactions or not.
I think so many people are reactive... they see things in a short term way they're right up against it.
For people who are readers, reading is important to them.
The fact people think that when you sell a lot of books you are not a serious writer is a great insult to the readership. I get a little angry when people try to say such a thing.
If whatever we do changes one person's opinion, gets one person's readiness better than it was before, or at the end of the day entertains people, than we've done our job.
I directed the men in our barque to approach near the savages, and hold their arms in readiness to do their duty in case they notice any movement of these people against us.
