[On why he was liking directing a television film] They leave you alone; there's no interference, no second guessing. - Norman Jewison

He gives his actors room and keeps them as calm as he can, because it's easier to speak with them when they're calm. A director has to keep the actors on their toes while the camera's running, but when the scene is done, they should be relaxing, nothing on their minds. There can't be a constant level of seriousness. And with Norman, there's always a lot of laughter.

[On why he was not making a theatrical feature film for the studios] They'd say these films were too wordy, too cerebral, too much dialogue [...] They often want films with a minimum of dialogue and lots of action and limited adult themes to sell abroad.

For me, films are about ideas [...] Every director should ask himself, 'Why am I making this picture?' And if you can't answer that, you shouldn't make it.