I like violence to be upsetting. The only reason to do it subtley is if doing it subtley makes it more effective somehow.

Masculine ideals have become very confused in the modern world.

You obviously can't cast Brad [Pitt] as an everyman guy because he just brings way too much baggage.

I always feel that crime films are about capitalism.

I think the film gives you a picture of a person. It gives you a complete picture.

Jesse James is like a Leonard Cohen song, I wanted to do something that was like a pop song.

I imagine that in a closed, hermetic society like the mob, where everybody knows each other, it must be really, really unpleasant to have to kill people. It's the sort of thing you really want to avoid.