I Decided A Long Time

So, Most Of It Was Done Over The Phone. But One Of The First Things I Did As A Director, Because It's One Of The First Things You Should Do, Even Though Most Don't, Is To Ask Good Actors Who They Think Is Right For The Part. They Know Better Than Anybody. But Without Missing A Beat Maggie Said Pauline Collins. I Didn't Know Pauline Because I Hadn't Seen Shirley Valentine, But Then I Saw This Thing That She Did With Woody Allen [you Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger], In Which She Was Wonderful As A Psychic, And I Said To Her On The Phone: "the Dialogue Seemed Improvised."

I Feel Cheated Never Being Able To Know What It's Like To Get Pregnant, Carry A Child And Breast-feed.

I Envy People Who Can Just Look At A Sunset. I Wonder How You Can Shoot It. There Is Nothing More Grotesque To Me Than A Vacation.

I Wanted To Find My Limitations So I Decided To Do Shylock. And If I Fail? I've Never Been Afraid Of That. I Have Other Fears - Doing Bad Work Knowingly Is The Worst Fear.

Tom [courtenay] And Albert Finney Met Ron Harwood On The Dresser, So That's How It Started. It's A Wonderful Documentary. It's Called Tosca's Kiss And Mr Hardwood Told Me About It When I Asked Him What The Genesis Was. It Was Made In 1983 And Verdi, Who Was Rich And Successful, Toward The End Of His Life Decided To Build A Mansion For Himself In Milan, Where He Lived, And He Stipulated That When He Died Opera Singers And Musicians - Because He Knew So Many Who Were No Longer Playing At The Scala And Some Were Poor - Could Live There.