"Three of my five top favorites are movies by Sofia’s father: Godfather one, Godfather two and The Conversation. I love Rumble Fish too. It’s hard, you know — I’d put Apocalypse in there too, if I could. I’d put a lot of Francis’ movies in. They’re just movies you can watch over and over again."

"“The first time I read this one, I was on tour in Australia. I had to hide in a hotel room for an hour to finish it. I was devastated, crying, the lot. It was one of the first novels by an African to be published in English, and it is a masterpiece. Breathtaking stuff.”"

"I was reading The Bible a lot through my 20s, mostly the Old Testament, just because I was knocked out by the language and the stories. I felt that the God being talked about there, who was this insane, vindictive patriarch – it was kind of thrilling, and titillated something in me at the time."

"My dad took me to a drive-in to see this when I was eight years old. It was badass then. It’s badass now. The great George V. Higgins contributed a tough but artful new authenticity to American crime writing. David Mamet, among others, owes a lot to Mr. Higgins. And Christ, Mitchum is fantastic."

"Three of my five top favorites are movies by Sofia’s father: Godfather one, Godfather two and The Conversation. I love Rumble Fish too. It’s hard, you know — I’d put Apocalypse in there too, if I could. I’d put a lot of Francis’ movies in. They’re just movies you can watch over and over again."

"A lot of my critics say my films lack strong, concise storylines. They complain that they ramble—I say, look at all the W.C. Fields classics; that’s his trademark. He goes off on these crazy, hilarious tangents that make no sense whatsoever. And that’s what makes this film so much more interesting and screwball."