"It's very eclectic, the way one chooses subjects in the movie business, especially in the commercial movie business. You need to develop material yourself or material is presented to you as an assignment to direct." "I feel that my job is to create an atmosphere where creative people can do their best work. In other words, I have to create an atmosphere where these people feel safe, where they feel respected, and where they feel that they can contribute." "There are two things I will never do in my life. I will never climb Mount Everest, and I will never work with Val Kilmer again. There isn't enough money in the world." - in Premiere magazine, April 1997. (Frankenheimer directed the 1996 film "The Island of Dr. Moreau," which starred Val Kilmer, with whom he reportedly had personal differences.) On referring to Val Kilmer and his personal feelings about him while making The Island Of Dr. Moreau (1996): "Will Rogers never met Val Kilmer." "No one ever looked like Burt Lancaster in 'The Crimson Pirate'." [on the impressive physique of friend Lancaster]