I need what I'm thinking to come out into the world, even if it's a two-word approval, like, "Yeah, I agree," I need that approval so that in the morning I can get up and use that when I go to work. It's a weird version of focusing.

I'm fascinated by how ethnic communities have assimilated into massive capitalist environments.

I don't feel any connection to Russia.

Maybe silence is something we're uncomfortable with as a culture, I don't know.

I've always been drawn to a certain kind of dark aesthetic in cinema and in film, to what's abjected or considered abject. I've been tremendously influenced by noirish cinema whether that's Von Sternberg or Scorsese in the 70s or Lynch, etc.

You don't share the things you're forced to share [on a movie set].

I've been lucky to be able to work with great people and on interesting material.