I'm Not The Go-to Guy. Everybody Is

It Comes Down To This: Black People Were Stripped Of Our Identities When We Were Brought Here, And It's Been A Quest Since Then To Define Who We Are.

You Know That First Of All Your Films Have To Make Money No Matter Who You Are.

I Think It Would Be Very Boring Dramatically To Have A Film Where Everybody Was A Lawyer Or Doctor And Had No Faults. To Me, The Most Important Thing Is To Be Truthful.

I Decided To Be A Filmmaker Between My Sophomore And Junior Years At Morehouse. Before I Left For The Summer Of 1977, My Advisor Told Me I Really Had To Declare A Major When I Came Back, Because I'd Used All My Electives In My First Two Years. I Went Back To New York And I Couldn't Find A Job. There Were None To Be Had. And That Previous Christmas Someone Gave Me A Super-8 Camera, So I Just Started To Shoot Stuff.

Right Now A Lot Of People Are Still Choosing To Go To Toronto Instead Of Shooting In New York City, Something I Haven't Done And Something I Hope I'll Never Have To Do.