I'm about to go to Sundance for my 3rd year, and Sundance has never felt like a real independent festival at all. On the other hand, it might to start feel that way.

I learn things in a backward way. I learn all those limitations, and slowly my brain soaks them up, and if things go right, you just, in an organic way, translate your ideas into those templates. That's the way I perceive the process happening.

The worst thing is to read bad reviews and go, "Yeah, I agree."

You get to use everything you learned in movie business. You talk to actors, if you do it right - and I haven't always done it right - you should be shaping the material all the time. And the other thing is, you get all the blame when you direct and it doesn't work. You get slammed. So that's another reason to know what you're making, why you're making it, and make it the way you want.

It's fun to discover things. I wouldn't want everything laid out, simply and too obviously.

If you're committed enough, you can make any story work. I once told a woman I was Kevin Costner, and it worked because I believed it.

I've always tried to have a rule that you shouldn't make fun of innocent people who can't defend themselves. I find that a little unseemly and distasteful. But nothing's really sacred to me.