We have convinced over one billlion members of the Islamic faith that we are prejudiced against their religion, that we would deny them freedom of religion, that we want suppress their culture and invade their governments.

I don't want to express alienation. It isn't what I feel. I'm interested in various kinds of passionate engagement. All my work says be serious, be passionate, wake up.

Will and Tommy Lee are the only actors I've ever worked with where neither of them want to say any lines.

I really wanted Michael Jackson to be in the first Men in Black, but he didn't want to be considered as an alien!

They want to let the audience figure things out and let the reaction shot get the laugh.

I really don't want to write a score until the whole show is cast and staged.

They are no longer going to serve you well. You have to commit. I think the biggest word is commit. I hear women say to me all the time, and men - I want to, I want to.

I mean, I don't want to sound - of course it's very nice, people come up and say appreciative things about my work. But the loss, in terms of privacy and anonymity, is no small thing to me.

I admit there's an element of brutality in all my work - it's part of the truth about human existence I always want to explore - but the last thing I'm trying to do is put on some kind of freak show, inviting people to get off on other people's pain and humiliation.

But anonymity is very important to me, and I don't want to be recognized in public more than I already am.

And that's just what I'm saying. I would never want to be like certain people, who change the way they dress, go out in disguise, wear a big floppy hat and dark shades. I would hate that.

All I mean is, I'm not the kind of audience comedy directors want at a test screening because I seldom laugh, and if I do, it's not very loud. That doesn't mean I don't like the movie.

When part of what you're trying to get at is the truth hidden under a taboo, or when you want to nail a hypocrisy, laughter is a very useful tool. I want to show the painful side of existence, but there is no question I also want to make people laugh.

One thing I want to say: I don't like victim stories and I don't write them.

When I want to show the kind of meanness people are capable of, to make it believable I find I have to tone it down. It's in real life that people are over the top.