Style is something that`s extremely important, but it must grow naturally out of who and what you are and what the material calls for. It cannot be superimposed.

By the time a film of mine makes it into the theaters, I have a love-hate relationship with it. There is always something I could have done to make it better.

Technique is of less interest than character and story.

I consider myself just another member of the crew, the highest paid member of the crew.

[after directing The French Connection (1971)] Each picture I`ve done so far has been for different reasons. The Birthday Party (1968), for instance, was purely a labor of love. I wanted to do [Harold Pinter]. Others were to advance my career, to get better assignments. I have no regard for and no knowledge of the value of money, I`m not saying that`s a virtue, just a fact. For me, the greatest thrill in the world, the only thrill, is getting 20 seconds on the screen that really gases you.

The informing idea of what you want to say and do, that`s what will take you from film school to professional - the idea. That`s what is original to you.

There`s a kind of desperation to the characters I`m interested in. They`re all in extremely heightened states in a heightened situation. And in the course of my films, we`re exploring all of their fears -- the rational and the irrational.

Directing is the provenance of younger guys. When I broke into film, I had no specific genius. I was just young. That`s how I did it. The studios feel that movies are all about a youth movement, and they always have. That`s why Orson Welles got to make Citizen Kane (1941) at 25. It`s also why Billy Wilder at the end of his career, when he was smarter, wittier and more energetic than most directors half his age, couldn`t even get a meeting.

The first work of the director is to set a mood so that the actor`s work can take place, so that the actor can create. And in order to do that, you have to communicate, communicate with the actors. And direction is about communication on all levels.

The French Connection (1971) was really made in the editing room. One of the easiest sequences to do was the chase scene. It was relatively easy to do because everything was worked out minutely, carefully planned and checked in advance. Of course, there were some human errors and we did wreck a couple of cars before we were through.

I don`t know about the rest of you, but I feel pressed and tense almost every day of my life about something or other. And I think it`s the one thing, as I look into people`s eyes, that I think I share with almost everybody.

The first thing I look for in an actor is intelligence. I don`t really care what they have or haven`t done before, so long as they`re physically right for the part, or can be, and they have the intelligence to dig in and find out who the character is.

I really think that sex always looks kind of funny in a movie.

I frankly am not on the same page with most of the films that are being made by the studios now. I certainly can`t think of any that I wish I had directed. This is not to degrade these pictures they`re making today, like Spider-Man 3 (2007). I`m just not seeking them out, nor are they seeking me out.

I tend to be attracted to characters who are up against a wall with very few alternatives. And the film then becomes an examination of how they cope with very few options. And that`s, I guess, what interests me in terms of human behavior.

Violence is not funny.