“In cinema, the leading player is the director.” — Ben Kingsley Quote

In cinema, the leading player is the director.

I just loved playing a man who was unafraid of making an idiot of himself in the process of falling in love. I found that admirable.

I do remember, as a child, that I always imagined, when I was maybe 6 or 7, my fantasy was that everywhere I went I was being followed by an invisible film crew.

There was one titanic guiding light on the film set, and I was in the presence of a true Mahatma, in the deepest and most profound sense of the word.

Filming is so much to do with rhythm, as is music, and if it isn't there then you know in the end nobody can save it really, they can't.

Any film I do is not going to change the way black women have been portrayed, or black people have been portrayed, in cinema since the days of D.W. Griffith.

The cinema is an institution nowadays, with its roots sunk deep in the hearts of the millions of people who find enjoyment and entertainment in going to the pictures.

The most important question in American cinema, I've learned, is 'When is lunch?'

If one wants to change the way things are, one has to take risks and be part of different kinds of cinema, despite not knowing how it will be received. That's what thrills me.

Of course, like all film-makers I've been mesmerised by cinema since I was a child.