I think one of the successes of Gladiator is how we manage to turn on a dime the character from one thing to another where you believe he is one thing and he is something very different.

I think if I’m going to do a science fiction, I’m going to go down a new path that I want to do.

Yes, obviously, there’s this degree of wanting people to accept other people faiths and philosophies.

MPC, Moving Picture Company, they’re really excellent, they did the majority of the effects.

My career seems to be a career of non-specific subjects which are all over the place.

What you do, is you gradually become more and more experienced, and more and more realistic about dramatic tolerance, i.e. about how long the play should be.

When you’re doing a big movie, you’re gone for 10 months to a year.

A hit for me is if I enjoy the movie, if I personally enjoy the movie.

But Gladiator is one of my favourite adventures because I really loved going into the world. I loved creating the world to the degree where you could almost smell it.

Life isn’t black and white. It’s a million gray areas, don’t you find?

Good FBI officers are not noticeable. You would never look at them.

I was always amazed about how much I could finally squeeze into a thirty second commercial.

Some people like to do everything always the same thing. That’s another way: To do the same thing.

That’s part of the policy: To keep switching gears.

Digital is a different world because you are sitting at home and a hi tech piece of equipment today is within reach of most people, so they are watching a pretty hi tech version of whatever you’ve done.

I knew exactly what to do on Alien, it was funny.

I don’t ever blink, honestly.

People say I pay too much attention to the look of a movie but for God’s sake, I’m not producing a Radio 4 Play for Today, I’m making a movie that people are going to look at.

It’s everything and I always make decisions about the cast.

And anyway, it’s only movies. to stop me I think they’ll ahve to shoot me in the head.

I do a pretty good job at casting actually.

I get so used to working with writers that my prime occupation is development.

I think one of the successes of Gladiator is how we manage to turn on a dime the character from one thing to another where you believe he is one thing and he is something very different.

Do what you haven’t done is the key, I think.

Same thing with film, by the time you’ve finished shooting and you’ve really been into everything, you’ve touched up everything in the editing room. You’ve gone in there and taken little bits from everything.

I watched Someone to Watch Over Me the other night. I thought it was a really good movie. It’s a great movie.

Cast is everything.

Blade Runner appears regularly, two or three times a year in various shapes and forms of science fiction. It set the pace for what is essentially urban science fiction, urban future and it’s why I’ve never re-visited that area because I feel I’ve done it.

Politics is very interesting and always leads to conflict.

If I have to, I’ll go and direct theater and talk till the cows come home.

And I maintain good relationships with all the studios so I’ve never been bullied into any cut, frankly.