Joe E. Lewis said, 'Money doesn't buy happiness but it calms the nerves.' And that is how I feel about a film being well-received.

I never wanted money worries to slow me down or make me take a job I didn't want.

I want studios to be financing director-driven, auteurist cinema, as they did in the '70s. I think it's starting to happen now. Plus, because of how our world has changed politically, I think audiences are demanding more realism. We need to have more stuff in our culture about what is really going on right now.

I mean, look, I love movies, not just the ones I make... In fact, I don't like the movies I make very much.

I think about what movie I would like to see. I don't think of them as a correction or palliative. I certainly am irritated by anything that's shot in the Midwest and filled with these noble people. "Oh, they're so good, and they're so honest..." I'm not interested in that. I just think of what's right for a movie.

Each one of my movies becomes easier to get off the ground.

Somewhat dramatic things happen, and you don't even always notice them — that's what life is.