The litmus test for whether I want to take on a role or not is usually fear. If Im afraid of it, then I want to do it.

Once you play with these scenes and you're outlining it, again and again, and telling each other the narrative, and telling it to people you know, trying to make sure that the mathematics of the story work, you feel that those are in place, and the actual writing and final draft doesn't take as long.

I think one thing for sure that you learn the more films that you make is how important it is to choose your collaborators.

I believe in what science fiction can do, which is it can set up simple rules that it has to follow to try to illuminate something about the present that is somewhat invisible to us.

Human beings are flawed and complicated and messy.

It doesn't happen all the time, but in the moments where you really lose yourself and you fall into this character, it's like time travel.

When you're reading Chekov, you're in this world that he's created. I never would have created that world. I don't know anything about that time period or that setting or those groups of people or what those experiences were, but oh my gosh, it's amazing to daydream on it and put yourself there.