The person that made me want to make movies, and the reason I do films, is Bruce Lee. He was an incredible actor, and he had a lot of charisma. Handsome, action, you know, everything was there. I loved Bruce Lee.
I remember writing '5 Dollars' out of intense listening sessions of Bruce Springsteen. I don't know if it's obvious, but I was obsessed with how limpid Bruce Springsteen's melodies are: It's such a great way to do storytelling and to still be melodic and catchy.
Honestly, I was so happy for Bruce because I loved Bruce... and Bruce felt like my brother. You know, I wanted him to be OK, and I was just thrilled he'd found someone who had four children and someone who understood what it was like to be a parent - you know, just to have that great family life again.
[Bruce] sees a lot of himself in [Batman], you know? You could argue that something even worse than what happened to Bruce happened to [Duke's] parents, who are now Joker-ized*. They're not just gone or irretrievably lost. And I'm NOT curing them, so you can put that out there! There's no relief from that.
Colin Campbell should be thanking me for raising his profile. I'm the only one who's put the Colin Campbell name on the map. Who has even heard of Lord Colin Campbell?
I'm a big Bruce Lee fan, and if I saw Bruce Lee try to be some namby-pamby lawyer, I'd want my money back.
He [ Campbell Scott ] is also a really funny guy which not a lot of people know.
If I'm in a bar and I gotta be sitting next to some clown who's like, "It's my tune," I don't want to hear you belt out Bruce Springsteen. That's why we have jukeboxes! Let's let Bruce be Bruce.
Home Alone was a lot and a lot and a lot of standing and sitting and walking and running and it was physically demanding but in this, I'm doing back flips and riding ostriches. It's physically demanding in a new way, so it's fun.
Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis are just great in that, and Don's direction is sublime. Love it, and I was glad to be a part of it, if just in spirit and Don's desire for it to be a good film and for me to be happy with it. When I first saw it I was very impressed, and it gets better with repeat viewings.
Stamping out fires is a lot of fun, but it is only putting things back the way they were.
You need music, I don't know why. It's probably one of those Joe Campbell questions, why we need ritual. We need magic, and bliss, and power, myth, and celebration and religion in our lives, and music is a good way to encapsulate a lot of it.
I've always been so confused about being a girl. Not in a Bruce Jenner way, just... there's that expectation where you walk into a room, and it's like, Is it OK to be a woman?' Or, you know, you're looking for your keys in the back of a cab, and sometimes the driver can treat you like you've had a lobotomy.
There's an element of ego to writing the Riddler. You research a lot of things that you end up jettisoning as a writer, and Riddler was a lot of fun to get to have that sort of annoying know-it-all personality lording over the city. He's a lot of fun to write about.
The other day, someone called me this generation's Bruce Dern - I'd never thought of that, and frankly, I don't know enough of Bruce Dern's work to comment on it, though he is an incredible actor.
I find teaching to be a great way to keep everything in perspective and to help give back. It's also a lot of fun and creatively invigorating.