That's just my disposition - to create a situation where you have to come up with something.

One of the joys of going to the movies was that it was trashy, and we should never lose that.

I was raised as a Calvinist, which is doctrine-driven. And though there are many things wrong with Calvinism, you are at least encouraged to argue about things.

Now I see it clearly. My whole life has pointed in one direction. I see that now. There never has been any choice for me.

I was looking for people who didn't have any preconceptions about films, what I call the "post-rules" generation.

I teach a course in screenwriting at Columbia, but I've never taken a course and I've never read a book about it!

All the animals come out at night.

'Taxi Driver' wasn't autobiographical in terms of the actual events, but I did draw on my own mental state.

Nobody has shot a strip club in black and white in a long time.

You can't take contradiction away. Part of the fun of it is that the contradiction never really quite goes away.

You think it's a blessing to know what God wants? I'll tell you what he wants. He wants to push me over! Can't he see what's inside of me? All my sins.

I get bored very easily. I find most movies boring. I go to movies and ask, "How do they stay awake making this?"

Let's just shoot in black and white. Don't explain why. Have no reason for it. Just do it because it's interesting.

Once you have a situation that is fresh, then you sort of believe in it and it becomes normal. So you do end up with protagonists that haven't been in other movies before.

I want to be happy; why do I do things that make me unhappy?

Those artists who say that somehow therapy or analysis will thwart their creativity are completely misinformed. It's absolutely the opposite: it opens closed doors.