For me, each one of those experiences stands on its own. The first one was with Steven Spielberg, who helped me to get an agent and vouch for me, and that gave me the confidence to continue.

For me, it was watching 'Reds' and 'Splendor in the Grass.' To me, 'Splendor' is like the companion piece to 'Rules Don't Apply.' It's set in the time when Warren [Beatty] came to Hollywood, and when he did that first film.

You do need these people to go out on a limb for you, thinking you're right for a role rather than having box office numbers.

Elia Kazan - the films he made were such a big deal for me when I was growing up.

I got turned down for a million jobs until I got my first movie with Francis [Ford Coppola].

[Woody Allen] does very few takes, and he doesn't give a whole ton of directions, although he does give direction.

I'm kind of grateful that I didn't have any real success until I was older and basically out of high school. I think that was a real confidence boost for me, having it all start that way, in that very privileged position of having him vouch for me.