"For many years I had a problem with Emma, as compared to, say, Pride and Prejudice. I loved ‘P and P’, and I loved its practically perfect heroine, Elizabeth Bennet. Emma, on the other hand, has a much more problematic heroine: Emma Woodhouse is bossy, controlling, obstinate, pigheaded and manipulative. In short, she is horribly like me at my worst. Getting older has mellowed me in many ways, and now that I like to delude myself that I’m not as much like Emma Woodhouse as I used to be, I’ve grown to love the book. Still, Pride and Prejudice is probably my favorite book ever, ever, ever."

"For many years I had a problem with Emma, as compared to, say, Pride and Prejudice. I loved ‘P and P’, and I loved its practically perfect heroine, Elizabeth Bennet. Emma, on the other hand, has a much more problematic heroine: Emma Woodhouse is bossy, controlling, obstinate, pigheaded and manipulative. In short, she is horribly like me at my worst. Getting older has mellowed me in many ways, and now that I like to delude myself that I’m not as much like Emma Woodhouse as I used to be, I’ve grown to love the book. Still, Pride and Prejudice is probably my favorite book ever, ever, ever."

"Pride and Prejudice. I love sweeping British drama period pieces and I hope that one day I can do one just like that, because, to me, I love old English literature. And I’m a big Keira Knightley fan. It’s just so beautiful aesthetically and in terms of story."

"In 1974, when I was at the Berlin International Film Festival with Little Malcolm, I met Fassbinder. He was then making Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, which I think is one of his best films. It’s a wonderful observation of social and racial prejudice, and of youth and age."

"Sparer, more savage and so much more poignant than “Pride and Prejudice,” (a great book, too, and I don’t mean to disparage it at all,) “Persuasion” is a novel that tells us, as only Jane Austen can, about the vanities and follies of being human with such memorably dry wit."