My father instilled in me the attitude of prevailing. If there's a challenge go for it. If there's a wall to break down break it down.
I met my grandfather just before he died and it was the first time that I had seen Dad with a relative of his. It was interesting to see my own father as a son and the body language and alteration in attitude that comes with that and it sort of changed our relationship for the better.
My grandfather was a man when he talked about freedom his attitude was really interesting. His view was that you had obligations or you had responsibilities and when you fulfilled those obligations or responsibilities that then gave you the liberty to do other things.
Obama does not represent America. Nor does he represent anything what our forefathers stood for. This country is basically built on an attitude. It's a way of life. It's not because you're born here. It's not that you're supposed to take from those who have and give to those who haven't. That kills a country. It killed Russia.
I did this Super-8 film at art school called 'Tissues ' this black comedy about a family whose father has been arrested for child molestation. I was absolutely thrilled by every inch of it and would throw my projector in the back of my car and show it to anybody who would watch it.
My mother and stepfather were married 43 years so I have watched a long marriage. I feel like I had a very good role model for that. And you know it's just a number.
Mom and Dad were married 64 years. And if you wondered what their secret was you could have asked the local florist - because every day Dad gave Mom a rose which he put on her bedside table. That's how she found out what happened on the day my father died - she went looking for him because that morning there was no rose.
It absolutely helped - to write the father in both 'Juicy' and 'Beasts ' I had to see the whole story from his point of view. All of a sudden I understood more of what my own father must be going through - the fear the frustration the anger... the hope that he'll leave a legacy.
The anger that Uncle Junior has comes from my background. My father was the son of an Italian immigrant and I've seen the fire of the Italian temperament. It can be explosive sometimes in ways that are both funny and tragic.
Another night I dreamed I saw my father sweeping out the barn floor clean and would not suffer the wheat to be brought in the barn. He appeared to me to be in anger.
I drank for about 25 years getting over the loss of my father and I took the anger out on myself. I did a good job at beating myself up at sometimes. I don't drink anymore but my alcoholic head occasionally says different. 'Nil By Mouth' was a love letter to my father because I needed to resolve some issues in order to be able to forgive him.
I grew up looking at my father as to how to behave. In watching him I grasped so many things. His own temperament was of a calm person. He was very composed and I never saw anger in him. To me that was fascinating.
It is really quite amazing that all of the folks supporting privatization from the president on down keep invoking the name of my grandfather Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
I'm crazy about my father he's an amazing man a real adventurer. He took us with him to travel all over the world. We were in places that were so remote that white people hardly ever reach them.
My grandfather was one of the most amazing Baptist ministers in history he was unbelievable. He was one of the most amazing men - the most amazing man that I ever met... He lived an amazing life.
The son has always felt like he was a footnote in one of the stories the father tells. The father is an amazing storyteller and one of the tales that he tells is how he met his wife.
I know that my grandfather is 92 years old. And he has seen this country evolve in amazing ways. He looks at South Carolina and he says wow what an amazing state that we have the blessing to live within because of the evolution.
Fatherhood is the most amazing thing that could ever have happened in my life.
Partly because his life ended before the age of 50 Hamilton was defined by the other founding fathers and he managed with amazing consistency to alienate most of them.
My father is an amazing man.
I know some of my parents' friends think 'Little Britain' is in incredibly poor taste. But swimming the Channel? You can't really say anything negative about that can you? There's nothing better than making your parents happy. The glee on my father's face that day was amazing.
I've had some amazing people in my life. Look at my father - he came from a small fishing village of five hundred people and at six foot four with giant ears and a kind of very odd expression thought he could be a movie star. So go figure you know?
My father opened a restaurant. It's so amazing... it's so freaking delicious but I'm telling you I gain five pounds every time I go in there.
I think the Mother is gradually revealing itself to me and taking over. But it is not the Mother alone. It is the Mother and the Father the male and the female sort of gradually having their marriage.