[on the screenplay for The Manchurian Candidate (1962)] It breaks every single known rule. It's got dream sequences, flashbacks, narration out of nowhere. When we got in trouble, it just had a voice explaining stuff. Everything in the world that you're told not to do. But that was part of its genetic code, the secret of the crossword puzzle.
[on Richard Quine] He was sweet and highly talented, but totally insane, which made him exactly my kind of person.
[on directing for the first time] I was in heaven! If I've been a good boy, when I die, they'll give me a big sound stage up there, with all the gunk to play with.