I love how 'melodrama' is a denigrated term - a lower-class citizen to other genres. And yet that's what life is, man.

Films like 'The Godfather,' 'Chinatown' and 'The Exorcist' brought a realism and currency and understatement to their genres that we wanted for 'Mildred Pierce.'

The best love stories on film are rooted in the point of view of the more woundable, vulnerable party, the more amorous party.

I love dabbling in various genres and languages.

Films like 'The Godfather,' 'The Exorcist,' 'Klute,' 'Chinatown,' 'Network,' and 'The Parallax View': They were drawn from the genre tradition, but they dressed down the stylistic telling of those traditions and genres.

I love dabbling in different genres, and I like being good at different genres of cinema.