I want all of my films to belong to me.

As the years go by and I make more films, I am increasingly interested in capturing place as a vivid backdrop for my films.

I'd love to be a director-for-hire and get a nice paycheck and captain one of those big ships, but I think studios mistakenly think I want to write what I direct - which I don't. I write out of desperation, because I never get a script I like, other than "Nebraska." It's a matter of: What's the screenplay? Is it intelligent? Is it human? I don't care what genre, what scale. I'm here for the movies.

It seems that our politicians see the world in black and white, so why not our artists? Did Woody Allen's 'Manhattan' have to be in black and white? No. But is it fantastic that it was? To see New York like that? Yes!

Acting is a lot easier than people think it is.

I don't feel despair because I am able to make the films I want to make, and that gives me hope.

A book suggests a whole world and story that I could have never thought of in a million years.