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 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.

I think that one of the most exciting things about making films is the sort of reaching out to the world. It's as an ambassador. You realize the more you travel that you are a cultural ambassador for your own country. You never become more patriotic than you do living abroad.

Everyone wants to be liked, so of course you want critical acclaim. After that, box office acclaim isn't bad. More than anything I think you have to try and make something you're proud of.

When people start talking, things happen.

It's an important part of being a member of society to know what's happening in the world and to know where you fall in it and what you can do about it.

When you think about being a director, you think about writing stories, putting the camera in interesting places and directing the actors to get your vision, but it's hard to imagine even this process... sitting here nine months later talking about the film and talking about it 20 times in one day. You don't even think about the part where you come to the set every morning and everyone's looking at you to see your mood in order to see what the day is going to be like, and the influence that you wield.