[on Quentin Tarantino doing his Top Gun (1986) speech in the film Sleep with Me (1994)] Important lesson learned. Intellectual properties can be taken from you if you put them in the air. Result is to never speak to anyone else ever again and withdraw from society. Keep few friends and speak to them rarely.

[on Pulp Fiction (1994) and all the inspiration and effect it had] In some ways, I think "Pulp Fiction" hurt cinema in a very, very minor, small way. It did a massive amount of good. But it also made it impossible to make a movie even remotely like it without someone comparing it to "Pulp Fiction".

[on Ron Perlman] Ron Perlman is a giving actor, with no pretensions. He`s wonderful to work with, full of ideas, and a truly gifted actor. When he came onto the production of Mr. Stitch (1995) (TV) the set literally lit up. Working with him was one of the bright moments of my career, and I would work with him again in a hot second. This must sound like I`m going overboard, but Ron has such an elegant, wonderful and bright personality that I honestly don`t think it`s an exaggeration. I mean, how often can you say that you`re a better person for having met someone?

[on the characters in The Rules of Attraction (2002) and them as people] Bret Easton Ellis is a social satirist; I consider myself aligned with how he does things. Bret doesn`t write about that which he loves about the world, he writes about what disgusts him. You`d be a disturbed individual if you came out and said, "I love these characters".

[on the film adaptations of Bret Easton Ellis books Less Than Zero (1987) and American Psycho (2000)] Those two movies have stripped away his literary devices, and the filmmakers are just trying to tell the story. If you strip away Bret`s devices, you strip away his themes - they`re part and parcel of each other.

[on Quentin Tarantino] I`ve realized that I can`t hang out with him. I talk with him, and he just sucks stuff from me.

[on the detractors of The Rules of Attraction (2002)] It does not matter to me if you hate the movie. What matters to me is if you are ambivalent. Anybody can do "thumbs up, thumbs down". That`s the real problem with film criticism today. It`s been reduced to "I like it, I dislike it". Criticism should be more of an examination of exactly why a film makes you feel the way you feel.