I kind of romanticized what it was like to be a writer and director when I was in my early twenties. Working as a production assistant knocked that right out of me.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I wanted to be a film student again, as a man in my 60s. To go someplace alone and see what you can cook up, with non-existent budgets. I didn't want to be surrounded by comforts and colleagues, which you have when when you're a big time director. I wanted to write personal works.
This career essentially chased me down while I was on the spoken-word scene in New York. I kept hearing that my delivery of my poetry - which was very personal and cathartic at the time- was very moving to folks. People thought that I was an actress because of my delivery, when I was just dropping into the work and really pouring out my soul.
It was always my dream to be a director. A lot of it had to do with controlling my own destiny, because as a young actor you feel at everyone's disposal. But I wanted to become a leader in the business.
I had to get a job, and of course, the job was 'The Godfather.' That made me be something I didn't know I was going to be. I became a big-shot director.
When I was in college, I studied business because I thought I wanted to be a director and producer.
Being an actor started me writing, and that led to directing.
I became a director just for the love of movies, because of the power of cinema.
Directing a film was something I always wanted to do, something that seemed an inevitability in my development as an actor.
I didn't plan to be a director until I was 35. For years I wanted to do anything but!
I had become a film director because I thought I could express something in an artful way.