I don't think I'd ever write anything that I don't also direct just because it's so hard and painful to write as it is.

Your movie should lull people into a place of openness and vulnerability. If it is just a diatribe, it's never going to work.

I have aspirations of making a big, historical epic. I don't know if I'll ever get the money to do it.

All I kept thinking about was, "Man, he's so relaxed onstage! I'm never going to be that relaxed! I'm clearly not meant to be in front of the camera. I'm really not meant for anything but behind the camera."

I think auditions are set up for failure because they're not really the set experience. There's no time to develop the character. You're just looking at someone... if someone's really good in an audition, sometimes they're not good in the film. It's something you learn when you're doing short films. It's the same way that some people do well at taking tests and some people don't. But when you're on a long-term filmmaking process it's a completely different feeling.

They're always surprised with what I want to do and don't want to do. I think they're surprised I don't want to do robo-tech. I don't know, it's like they want me to have a long career. And be prolific and make big movies.

I've been wanting to make a movie about the war in Sierra Leone, specifically, for more than 15 years.