Brian De Palma

You really are as hot as your last movie. And it goes away really quickly.

When you make a movie outside the system and it's successful critically or a moderate financial success, you usually have to go back into the system and make a big hit.

I do like directing other people's material.

I guess what's most surprised me in most of the reviews is that they don't seem to get the noir story in the dream sequence, so they analyze it like a straight noir movie.

The real trouble with film school is that the people teaching are so far out of the industry that they don't give the students an idea of what's happening.

The biggest mistake in student films is that they are usually cast so badly, with friends and people the directors know. Actually you can cover a lot of bad direction with good acting.

I've been sort of traveling around the country for ten years talking about independent features.

And we've become very doubtful of our information sources, because they're all controlled by these huge multilateral corporations.

You know, when people want to get any information, research information, it will all exist on these Web sites.

However, I spent most of my time in a Quaker school.

Well, like any time you're shooting documentary stuff, you've got to be in the moment, and you've got to be able to be in control enough to capture what's happening.

Yeah, I had an idea to make a very scary movie, based on a kind of serial murderer that preys on tourists.

I don't see scarey films. I certainly wouldn't go see my films.

It's always great when you discover someone.

It's always great to discover a new star of tomorrow.

You know, I listen to contemporary music all the time.

Well, I just think through your career you go through different phases, and I just got sort of uninspired by the whole studio process of making and releasing films.

That's what noir feels like to me. It feels like some kind of recurring dream, with very strong archetypes operating. You know, the guilty girl being pursued, falling, all kinds of stuff that we see in our dreams all the time.

I'm always looking for a kind of new musical entity to sort of move into a motion picture venue.

I hadn't done just a straight-out comedy in a long time, just letting an ensemble do really good character acting, having them carry the movie as in my earlier pictures.