It's so great as an actor to get the opportunity to do something that's incredibly truthful.

I'm very attracted to characters who don't necessarily make it easy to be loved.

Fran McDormand was great because she said, 'What I used to do when I worked with him was I would just walk on the set and I would give him a big hug. Somehow his guard would just drop.' So I took that advice.

I've never been driven by box office.

I don't think you can create anything interesting from a comfort zone. You have to work from a place of fear and failure.

That's why I like my job so much, because at the end of the day they're fruits of labor that you don't pick very easily. And I love that.

I think since I did Monster I really started understanding how hard it is for first time directors. I think there's a lot of great stories out there, but it's high risk.