I think what's dangerous [about comedy] is that you're coming into the room announcing your intentions.

David O. Russell is probably my favorite filmmaker. He's not only a great director, but he's also a great writer.

There's always way less improv than people think. The truth is something like 15 percent.

I grew up with a single mom who was a waitress. We were on food stamps. My mom then got Pell Grants, put herself through college to get a degree to get a better job. Because we were broke, I then had to go to a state school. I went to Temple University, and had to get loans. So I grew up in a world where I saw the government helping individuals pull themselves up, and saw it work very successfully.

If you make action movies, the critics will savage you, and then your movies are outdated the following week with the new wave of special effects.

For a documentary it's so important to find the characters and to find people who will give you access to film

I don't want to speak for my movies; you could say my movies are just completely silly and dumb, but in the case of 'Idiocracy' and 'Borat,' without a doubt there is a really subversive and sophisticated assault on American culture. It's one thing to mess stuff up and break stuff, but [Borat] is really pointing out the ideology of America. It's one thing to break stuff and damage people's possessions, but when you start aiming at the ideology of America, that's dangerous comedy.