If all you've got to do is a couple of lines, dear Jesus, don't let them down. Other people are taking responsibility.

There has to be a reason of whether you look right or you bring the emotional or intellectual baggage of what's required for the storytelling. For me, it's not something I've aspired to say, "I'm going to be working in Hollywood."

You get to an age when you lose people close to you.

In good comedy, the structure comes from truth and that weird eye that looks at the way life is.

Conflict sometimes produces results, but more often than not it produces confusion at the level of everybody on the same track.

In fact, the difference between creative and interpretive, it all starts with the writing. Then if you can get the money together to make the film, then you're in touch with the visuals and the actual creation, and the sound of what you want to mean. Of course, some directors get inspired by what people do anyway. Don't feel the need [to stick to the script]. In fact, they sometimes go "That's not what I had in mind, but that suits the purpose well.".

I've worked a lot with Noah Baumbach, and he doesn't make it easy to like his characters, but the stories are funny and witty and there's an edge to that kind of humanity.