“The hardest thing which I've experienced is calling up my father, Ranc...” — Ron Howard Quote

The hardest thing which I've experienced is calling up my father, Rance Howard, who's a wonderful actor, and telling him I've had to cut him out of the movie, which I've had to do twice. That's a lump-in-the-throat phone call.

I've always been interested in the Depression as this very dramatic pivotal period in American history.

A long time ago, I stopped trying to look at projects as genre exercises.

It's hard to define change in oneself unless something really dramatic happens, like you give up some vice, fall in love, or something like that.

I used to feel that I had to be dictatorial in order to be respected, but after I did a couple of TV movies, I began to see that authority came with the job. So I began to relax and let more people into the process, and my work really improved.

When somebody's calling you 'Mommy,' it's a wonderful thing. But also to have that responsibility and to know that you and your partner have this little thing that's totally relying on you - and it made me, I suppose, less selfish. Not that I was mega-selfish to start with, but it's lovely having that responsibility. It's scary.

Most Japanese-Americans have that legacy. The camp experience is something of a calling card between them. They say, 'So, where were you interned?'

That's what drives me - to be able to help people get to their own calling and find their own peace.

Calling China's online censorship system a 'Great Firewall' is increasingly trendy, but misleading. All walls, being the creation of engineers, can be breached with the right tools.