I'm Not A Hollywood Director. I'm An

The Five Points Was The Toughest Street Corner In The World. That's How It Was Known. In Fact, Charles Dickens Visited It In The 1850s And He Said It Was Worse Than Anything He'd Seen In The East End Of London.

It’s Also True That I Might Have Never Made Taxi Driver [1976] Were It Not For The Success Of Alice [doesn’t Live Here Anymore, 1974]. The Question Of Commercialism Is A Source Of Worry. Must One Make A Choice, Must It Be A Matter Of Either Setting Your Sights On Winning An Academy Award And Becoming A Millionaire, Or Making Only The Movies You Want To Make And Starving To Death?

You Have To Remain Strong. That's The Kind Of Filmmaker I Want To Encourage. Orson Welles Was The One Who Said, You Know, You Can Learn Anything You Need To Know About Filmmaking- That's Camera, Sound, Celluloid, Video At This Point- In Four Hours. It Has Nothing To Do With Anything. It Has Nothing To Do With It... It Has To Do With What You Want To Say. If You Feel You Have Something To Say, You'll Find That Way To Get It Said, On Film, And Not Let Anyone Or Anything Chip Away At That Or Tarnish It, Because It's Something Special And Precious.

Well The Thing Is That The New York Of 1846 To 1862 Was Very Different From Downtown New York Now. Really Nothing From That Period Still Exists In New York.

There Was Always A Part Of Me That Wanted To Be An Old-time Director. But I Couldn't Do That. I'm Not A Pro.