Film is the manipulative medium par excellence. When you think back on the history of film and the 20th century you see the propaganda that's been made. So there are moral demands on the director to treat the spectators as seriously as he or she takes himself and not to see them merely as victims that can be manipulated to whatever ends they have.

When I left my parents' home when I was 19 I went to the University of Florida and within 24 hours was in the mental health department. And within 20 minutes I was being told by the director there that they didn't have what I needed there.

I don't think a director should have any kids. I don't even think it's good for your physical health. Even guys in their 30s look exhausted because directors never get enough sleep. What I do is stressful enough.

During my nearly five years as director-general of WHO high-level policymakers have increasingly recognized that health is central to sustainable development.

I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.

The stories that I want to tell especially as a director don't necessarily have a perfect ending because the older you get the more you appreciate a good day versus a happy ending. You understand that life continues on the next day the reality of things is what happens tomorrow.

I've run into some S.O.B. directors but I gave them back as good as I got.

I've turned down jobs because I've said 'Honestly I can't find my way in. I can't do it. I love you as a director. I think the script is good. You deserve better than I think I can do.'

In feature films the director is God in documentary films God is the director.

I watched a lot of silent directors who were absolutely great like John Ford and Fritz Lang Tod Browning and also some very modern directors like The Coen Brothers. The directors take the freedom within their own movies to be melodramatic or funny when they chose to be. They do whatever they want and they don't care about the genre.

It's interesting - I always thought when I was doing more melodramatic stuff like 'Everwood' that the directors were constantly reeling me in and stopping me from being funny.

'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' is a good one because it not only turned out I think to be a really funny movie but it was also a delight to shoot. We were in the South of France working with Glenne Headly and Michael Caine and Frank Oz the director - who were just fun.

It became very clear to the director that it would be foolish not to use our friendship. I had tried to talk to him about it because all the relationships in the film are so not negative but antagonistic. There's not a lot of love going around.

I've never let producers tell me what to do. Even when I was making television I always did what I wanted to do and if I couldn't I didn't do it. It was a freedom that these days young directors starting out don't have.

Masood Ahmed brings to the position of director of external relations extensive experience gained in a range of senior positions in international finance and development.

It's very difficult to break into motion pictures but it's oddly easier for directors today because of independent films and cable who have inherited for the most part those films of substance that the studios are reluctant to finance.

I fear other actors who are not prepared. And I fear directors who are afraid.

Some very famous directors have started in the mail room which is just getting inside the studio getting to know people getting to know the routine.

I mean he's a very famous director... they're not going to put their... and he's very tough he doesn't like interference at all so he kept them at bay.

I've been very very lucky in my career in my life - from day one. When aspiring directors say 'What's your advice?' first I say 'Be born the son of a famous director. It's invaluable.'

I hear the way people talk about the children of famous people. They're not treated very well. The presumptions are usually quite awful. So I tried to establish myself with a couple of movies. After 'Juno' I thought: 'I think I've defined myself enough as my own director that I'd love to work with my father.'

I spent four months in Prague in these blue rooms reacting to nothing and you basically place your faith in the hands of the director and the special effects co-coordinator and you keep your fingers crossed and hope that the creatures look really scary.

I've always thought that as long as directors and casting directors don't see me as just Harry Potter I'll be OK. People have shown a lot of faith in me and I owe them a huge debt. They're letting me prove that I'm serious about this.

My film directorial career has been nothing but repetition of one failure after another!