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I think that the Oscar gives you some kind of guts or something, it gives you the illusion that you can do it. It's good for business.

This whole Oscar thing is so political. It's about how much a film grosses, and who's in it, and how well it has been promoted.

I can do more than anyone suspects. I pride myself on my versatility. It took 32 years of difficult parts, second leads, villains and juveniles. The Oscar changed the quality of the roles I was being offered.

The Oscars are about the dynamics of that moment, of that season. It reflects what's been going on in the world every year through the movies. And a lot of times, what's popular at the movies is popular because of what's going on in the world at that moment.

It has made me realise how many doors open for you when you're up for an Oscar. It seems once you are nominated, it validates you as a serious director, and you become someone that people want to work with.

I think once a year it's good to look back at the history of Oscar and to embrace the great work that everybody's done this year and set it in place to the great work that's gone on before us.

There's been a slow death in a way. On the positive side, there are films getting into the Academy Awards that wouldn't have, but on the negative side, financiers are now dominant and making all the decisions. I can't count the ways a director's vision is compromised.

The poor Oscars - they always get slammed in the press.