I'm not a politician; I'm lucky to be a filmmaker and to be able to express myself through the films I make.

Hood films now are made by studios and have nothing to do with the reality they supposedly represent.

We made it known that we were trying to show the reality of France. People think of Paris as the city of love or the city of light, but where you got love you got hate, where you got light you got darkness.

Well, a special screening was set up for government officials, so they didn't have to see the experience of going to see the film. They certainly aren't going to the projects to see for themselves the situation.

Now, more then ever, we have the ability to make films for almost nothing and that's broken down all barriers of entry. I think it's a new golden age of film-making. With that, there needs to be the ability to recoup investment dollars, people need to make money.

Early education is the type of issue politicians nod their heads at, and then when it comes time to make a tough decision, a financial trade-off, inevitably it's about the first item tossed from the table.

When I got my Oprah money, the first thing I bought was a really nice electronic bidet toilet seat.

I don't plan on going back to legal work. I wanted an international career, and finance seemed to be where some interesting career opportunities were.