I was a terrible science student, so I could never be a scientist; my mind doesn't work that way. But I've learned to love the stories around science, and I have so much respect and fascination for the people who can make discoveries and find applications. There's a lot of drama there.

I think child stars have a leg up, actually, because they have an innate sense of what creative problem solving is all about. But to make a life out of it, you have to be ready to take on project after project. You have to like the action.

I acted as a kid. I always liked it, but I don't really have a performer's personality.

I went with a friend to see Frank Sinatra in Las Vegas, in the last year that he was performing. He wasn't necessarily on top form, but the way he could connect with an audience and the way he communicated through the lyrics was something I hadn't ever really seen before.

I'm not really a sequel guy. I did 'Angels & Demons' after 'The Da Vinci Code,' because I like working with Hanks, and I felt it was a really different sort of world that we were visiting. That was, of itself, interesting.

I was very intimidated by the visual effects world. But I began to realize that you don't have to know everything. You have to be able to talk about story.

When you're an actor, you often feel victimized - you see the end result, 'Oh, they didn't use this take; they didn't use that take. How come?' There's no 'How come?' with the director. There's only one person to look at. Walk over to the mirror if you want to know why. But I prefer that.

Early on in my career, when I had basically been a sitcom actor for all of these years, and I made my first movies, and they were comedies, and they were successes, it was very important for me to stretch, and 'Parenthood' was one of those films. Even though it was a comedy, there was a great deal of authentic drama in the piece as well.

I don't believe in perfection, but those acrimony-free gaps during our family holidays can be downright blissful.

I'm interested in all forms of content, including Internet and gaming. On the TV side, cable has sparked a renaissance of the medium and that will continue for storytellers.

In the research I did for 'Apollo,' there was never a moment's hesitation by anyone that we would do anything other than save these guys, until every resource, every ounce of energy was spent. And I'm very proud of that aspect of our culture.

I've acted with all types, I've directed all types. What you want to understand, as a director, is what actors have to offer. They'll get at it however they get at it. If you can understand that, you can get your work done.

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

Outside of his loving family, I'm sure that Andy Griffith was Don Knotts' greatest fan.

Why fight technology at all? The audience is always going to tell you what they like best. And you, as a storyteller, as a communicator, are going to be required to adjust to that.

Early in the second season of 'The Andy Griffith Show,' I ventured a suggestion for a line change to make it sound more 'like the way a kid would say it.' I was just 7 years old. But my idea was accepted, and I remember standing frozen, thrilled at what this moment represented to me.

I never saw The Beatles live. I was very aware of them, though.

As a director, I've wanted to have adventure in my life, creative adventure. I think it's partly because I grew up, basically from age six to 26, mostly on television series where the producers find something that works and then do it over and over and over again.

I don't vacation on the water. I'm a pale-skinned redhead; I get sunburned out there. I'm a little frightened of the ocean, in fact. But I just know there's great drama out there.

I just don't think of myself as an actor much at all, so I don't lust after any particular roles.

There are all these great TV series; you can watch all these hours and hours of shows and ideas, but there's still something great about a movie that unfolds in a couple of hours, and you have the complete experience.

The first movie I did that was inspired by true events was 'Apollo 13.'

I'd rather risk confusion and stay creatively fresh and stimulated. I feel like I'm growing and challenging myself all the time.

Anything that stimulates the public's imagination about the nobility and the importance of space exploration is something that I'm very excited to be a part of.

If you think about it, for almost any moment, any mood that you might be in, there's probably a Beatles song that will address that mood, that feeling, that set of emotions. I don't know that that can be said about very many groups, if any.

Anytime you really take a close look at people who are dealing with the aging process, you're going to have a complicated reaction to what you're seeing and feeling. If you're in the middle of it, those emotions are going to be quadrupled. It's immediate, it's relatable, so it's good human drama.

I want every movie to have a big audience. I'm always hopeful that it's going to be discovered, and audiences are fantastic that way because every once in a while they surprise you. I didn't think 'Beautiful Mind' was going to be that kind of global success.

Entertainment that is fact-based is, I think, where people really learn the most, because they're leaning in, their curiosity is stimulated and they're being entertained.

I like to make all kinds of shows and films, whether it's fantasy or big-popcorn, big-screen escapism or dramas based on real events.

I really feel like you shouldn't make a movie as a kind of exercise. You have to be all the way in.

I was never a comic book guy. I like the movies when I see them, especially the origin stories. I never felt like I could be on the set, at 3 o'clock in the morning, tired, with 10 important decisions to make, and know, intuitively, what the story needs. For me, I'd be copycatting and not inventing. I've never said yes to one.

I have the career that I want.

My brother's a blast to direct; he's one of those great characters who brings so much to every scene he's in, and we're pals.

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

I think people realize I'm truly an outsider.

You don't get further outside than I do going into Washington, D.C.

Donald Trump's a change agent. So am I.

The arrogance of liberal progressives is that they're just a lot smarter and better angels than the Stalins and the Chavezes and the Castros of the world, and if we give them all the control, and they control your life, they're going to do a great job of it. Well, it just isn't true.

It's not law-abiding gun owners that are the problem here - it's Islamic terrorists.

I don't like outside group ads. I don't like attack ads. I particularly don't like them now that I'm in the process and they are being used against me.

What happens outside of the campaign is outside of my control.

The federal government is way larger than it should be.

It is past time for Congress to get serious about our spending crisis and impose fiscal restraint.

We all have the problem of what do you do with the not-guilty-yet in free and democratic societies where you have the presumption of innocence. It's a very difficult problem.

If you're looking for a metric that we have to measure, that we have to control, it's government in relation to the size of our economy.

I absolutely do not believe in the science of man-caused climate change.

I don't think we can do anything about controlling what our climate is.

We have to get the oil where the oil is.

From my standpoint, we ought to be talking about... how do you make Wisconsin a more attractive place for risk-taking, business investment, business expansion.

Far too often in the political realm, we demonize success; we demagogue against it. What we should be doing is incentivizing success.