A lot of banging in the head has built up over the decades, and for my own sanity, I needed to write. I wanted to see if I could tell an honest, organic story about characters that interest me.

If you blink, you will miss me, but I am in 'Malcolm X.'

Working with actors really depends on the actor. Most of the directors I've worked with don't really know how to speak to actors, actually; some of the best directors don't.

I'm a sucker for entertainment and escapism as much as the next person. I like silly and lowbrow stuff, but I get nervous when I indulge in that too often. I want to know what's going on in the world. I have a morbid fear of being surprised by bad news. I want to anticipate everything.

And I, uh, I wonder how anybody can think his personality changes with his success. I've had quite a bit of success but I feel that I'm just the same person as I always was.

We've had great successes, but our future is not about our past success. It's going to be about whether we will invent things that are really going to drive our future.

I never place limits on the potential success of my students. If they're going into acting, they're going to win the Oscar... If they're going into law, they're going to be chief justice.

You're always in a blessed position if you have a great success story, especially to be in a position to be able to tell it so people can even understand.