From 1971 onwards the Memorial Day holiday was officially observed on the last Monday in May and became the unofficial start of the summer with barbecues blockbuster movie openings and mattress sales.

Nowadays you really have to pump out that blockbuster in order to have the luxury of getting a body of work and that's sad because the work suffers. Today everything is based on money. The older actors they inspire me.

Well look at all of these summer blockbusters. You can't help but laugh a little because you've already seen a lot of these movies 482 times.

You know when Hollywood does a great big blockbuster that really wraps you up in a world and lets you believe in extraordinary things that move you in some way in an almost operatic sensibility? That to me is the most fun I have at the movies.

I rarely see one of the 'summer blockbuster' movies. I'd like to see a stronger focus on smaller smarter movies.

Of course I'd like to produce and direct a blockbuster but you gotta build up to that. So now I'm learning from a bunch of little movies. And it's more fun with smaller pictures. It's more creative.

It seems like the studios are either making giant blockbusters or really super-small indies. And the mid-level films I grew up on like 'Back to the Future' and all those John Hughes movies the studios aren't doing. It's hard to get them on their feet.

Summer blockbusters are very expensive to make. They have things that have to be expensive such as 600 effects shots or CG characters that have to go a certain way or a film design that is different but expensive.

I think Paul Newman had an amazing career. I also love what Tom Hanks has done. He has always made very grounded movies that have something to say. He has found a way to make blockbusters that are about something and that is what I want to do.