Lee Daniels

I drank from colored water fountains and from the white water fountain just to see what it was like when I was a kid. What shocks me is that these kids today don't realize that this happened in many of our lifetimes.

My mom had five kids. And she came home after working three jobs, and I'd rub her feet. We'd all rub her feet. We were lucky to get any time with her.

I look at my movies; I call my movies 'the kid.' It's like I'm giving birth. I'm in the cocoon, you know?

My kids tell me to Instagram, so I do that. I have a few thousand followers.

The ratings board is completely different when it comes to film versus the television arena.

As a film director and as film actors, you get used to a certain rhythm that's slow. But with TV, it's hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry. It's a different pace.

At 19, I was in the streets making money. I was surviving.

Stars make money on real movies. They make big money on real movies. To come into my world, I've got some M&Ms and some potato chips, and I'm asking you to move furniture.

I definitely caught the acting bug, but that lasted for about two seconds when I found my way to L.A. and found that my talents were better suited behind the cameras.

Most times when I do a film, it starts out with one idea and ends up not being what I thought it was going to be.

Most actors want the audience to like them, and that leads to bad acting.

I'm still pulled over... We were nominated for two Oscars for 'Monster's Ball,' and I almost didn't make the Oscars because I got pulled over in Beverly Hills.