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People don't talk about religion a lot in Hollywood because it's not an incredibly safe place to do it.

I think that if we really want to break it down, that non-black filmmakers have had many, many years and many, many opportunities to tell many, many stories about themselves, and black filmmakers have not had as many years, as many opportunities, as many films to explore the nuances of our reality.

The black groups that boycott certain films would do better to get the money together to make the films they want to see, or stay in church and leave us to our work.

I don't think people have been able to deal with the fact that African American filmmakers can make movies about life and relationships.

Then if your movie clicks with real audiences, you'll be sucked into some sort of Hollywood orbit. It's a devil of a place where the only religion that really counts is box office.

If you have a film that's talking about God, you would think that it would appeal to people that consider themselves religious, whatever denomination they're attached to.

Why would you create a movie for black people if you don't understand the history and perspective of the people you are doing it for? You need historical perspective to make sound decisions.

So, is Hollywood anti-religion? Not in my opinion. But unlike, say, politicians and preachers who talk faith before going off to speak in tongues to their mistresses, Hollywood just doesn't wear its faith on its sleeve.

I believe that the American audience is not so dumb that they wouldn't be interested in a black story.

There have been so few decent films involving Negroes that right away everybody expects every film to do everything. But when you make a flick, there are maybe two things you're trying to put into that flick. You can put the other things in another time.