Robert Zemeckis

Robert: (on using new techniques in filmmaking) I just feel like filmmakers need to use the tools that are available. Why use an old tool when there's a new tool?

Robert: (on doing Polar Express) The wonderful thing about working with actors, of course, is that they give you those wonderful moments you never could imagine – and that's what's great about [performance capture]. But you're not going to luck into a beautiful sunset – you're going to paint one in.

Robert: The truth is that I was fortunate to have teachers that inspired me along the way, which is what I believe education is.

Robert: (on making it as a filmmaker) It was a certain amount of luck and then being talented. I don't know why, but for some reason I have this ability to tell stories. The third thing was being absolutely driven to accomplish this goal.

Robert: My parents would sit there and say, 'Don't you see where you come from? You can't be a movie director.' I guess maybe some of it I felt I had to do in spite of them, too.

Robert: I won an Academy Award when I was 44 years old, but I paid for it with my 20s. That decade of my life from film school till 30 was nothing but work, nothing but absolute, driving work. I had no money. I had no life.

Robert: The truth was that in my family there was no art. I mean, there was no music, there were no books, there was no theater....The only thing I had that was inspirational, was television--and it actually was.

Robert: Understand life's mysteries - as mysteries to be lived.

Robert: No matter how many obstacles that are thrown in our path, there are ways to accept them and to live through them. Understand life's mysteries, - as mysteries to be lived.

Robert: I was raised a Catholic on the South Side of Chicago, and I felt I had to undo a lot of serious damage. But as I was getting older, I began coming off my absolutely young, arrogant, agnostic beliefs. I was thinking more about coming to terms with human spirituality.