Biografía

Did uncredited rewrites for Apolo 13 (1995) and Mimic (1997).

His films are often more based on character than plot.

Speaks Spanish fluently.

Drafted in 1968, but rejected by the United States Army because of missing vertebra.

In his hometown of Schenectady, New York, there is the Sayles School of Fine Arts Black Box Theatre at the high school.

[on making Baby It's You (1983)] I got the cut I wanted, but I was thrown out of the editing room.

Oh, I've always felt like I was on the margins. Once upon a time that's what independent used to mean.

I always feel that there are no final victories and no final defeats. But it's true that America is in a hole right now. There are a lot of dead fish in the water.

I want to direct films that no one else is going to make. I know if I don't make them, I'm never going to see them. Of course, I hope some people will want to see my movies as well, but I won't pander to the public. I won't try to second guess what a Hollywood studio would like to see in a low-budget film, so that they will hire me the next time around. I know I will always do better work if I do projects in which I really believe. And if I never get to direct again, I will have made some movies I can feel proud of.

Being a screenwriter is a good job. I can make a good amount of money to put back into my own films.