Imagine if the people who have lived and learned still had the vitality to act upon the hard learned lessons - and not just share in a conversation, but lead.
I don't believe in perfection, but those acrimony-free gaps during our family holidays can be downright blissful.
I'd say that 'In the Heart of the Sea' is the most challenging movie I've made. It was tough to figure out how to lead this large cast into some very sensitive, intense, emotional scenes.
I think there's a tendency with actor/directors to imagine themselves playing every part and trying to get people to follow their rhythm, their tempo, their pace. I've learned now to just love being at the center of this creative swirl.
I can't say that I am a DVD junkie. I see most films that I want to see in the theater, and so most of my DVD-watching is catching up with the occasional movies that I missed or revisiting a film that I really care about, in which case I really want the extra channels, because it's a movie that I already love, and I want to know more about it.
It's hard to define change in oneself unless something really dramatic happens, like you give up some vice, fall in love, or something like that.
The story of John Nash is an amazing, powerful journey. But as unique as this man is, his story is also very accessible because it is so heartbreakingly human.
When you read about it, you realize that mental illness is so prevalent. People didn't always have the right terms for it, but most families have had a brush with it.
Unlike the twisters he famously chased in the movies, Bill Paxton was the kind of force of nature you ran toward and never away from.
Confidence is preparation in action.Collection: Self Esteem
One of the great things about being a director as a life choice is that it can never be mastered. Every story is its own kind of expedition, with its own set of challenges.Collection: Movie
Humor is unavoidable. It might not feel funny in the moment, but more often than not there's a light at the end of the tunnel.Collection: Humor
I think it's in our nature to try to get beyond that next horizon. I think that when we as a species are scratching that itch we're actually following an evolutionary compulsion that is wired into us. I think good things come of it. That's the philosophical side.Collection: Philosophical
Death can be experienced once, winning maybe more, but losing can happen all the time.Collection: Winning
You're always a little surprised when something really takes off.Collection: Littles
Every religion, in my opinion, has something to bring, and I think we all learn from everyone that there's no right, perfect way to look at something.Collection: Thinking
I think the most important thing really was that you could take very personal ideas and present them to an audience in entertaining ways.Collection: Thinking
I've just looked for ideas and great characters that I relate to and that I think I can offer something to the audience, and I no longer look at them as experiments or genre exercises at all.Collection: Character
Sports always works for us more allegorically or metaphorically and that's what's fantastic about why we love them. You demonstrate the limits to which a human being can go and they keep pushing the boundaries of that.Collection: Sports
There's a very real argument that the minute we are capable of going to a planet, whether it's Mars or another one, and inhabiting it, that we really should.Collection: Real
I think more and more scientists are becoming convinced that it's very likely that life forms of some kind exist all around the universe not so far from us.Collection: Thinking
I've acted with all types, I've directed all types. What you want to understand as a director, is what actors have to offer. They'll get at it however they get at it. If you can understand that, you can get your work done.Collection: Want
It was always hard to find stories that I felt were, in and of themselves, fresh enough and intriguing enough .Collection: Stories
When Apollo 13 appeared as an opportunity and I began to tackle that in as authentic a way as I possibly could, I really became enthralled by the philosophical side of space travel, and why we need to explore - what it means to us here on Earth - all of those things. I became a huge proponent.Collection: Philosophical
3-D is a truly exciting possibility.Collection: Possibility
Of course, I was completely enthralled by the space program as a kid - particularly Apollo 11 - and was glued to the television like most of the world. Then I stopped thinking about it too much. I was a little disappointed that they weren't going on to Mars at the time, but I didn't think much of it. I was more interested in becoming a director at that point in my life and falling in love, things like that.Collection: Falling In Love