Finally, the book is autobiographical in the sense that it reflects the changes I have gone through, emotionally and physically, over the years. When I was a young man I could be more easily seduced by the pure sensuousness of the visual: give me an Ophulsian camera movement and you had me in your pocket. Later, these blandishments affected me less, partly because a whole younger generation of Hollywood filmmakers came to power who had technique galore, who were masters of the gratuitously gorgeous shot, but whose knowledge of human nature sometimes seemed painfully thin. Over the years (perhaps because i wrote a few myself), I have become increasingly attuned to the screenplay [...] And what I want -- and am often stymied in getting -- is complexity, wit, nuance.