When people are out of their comfort zone, it’s more dramatic, more prone to have more entertaining experiences, get into fights. That’s the dramatic instinct, to move people out of what they know and make them deal with it.

Im living as an artist, and thats a staggering feeling, its a total luxury. And because you have this amazing chance, with so much freedom, Im determined to make something that is worth that. I feel this responsibility - to create something that makes an audience feel, which takes them somewhere. But thats very hard to achieve.

I think Catholicism took root very quickly in Ireland because it's a very superstitious religion, the holy ghost, the holy spirit, it has a goddess, very visual, the music.

Directing is such a crucial part of the writing process; you start directing and you see what does not work. "Oh, God, what was I thinking?" and then you can rearrange it.

I guess Im attracted and repelled by isolation. It scares me. And its why I tend to write about older characters, too, because for them the stakes are somewhat higher.

I started directing out of necessity, the first play I wrote in college because I didn't know anyone who could direct it.

I could not flourish in the Hollywood system because the first thing spoken about is "What genre is it?" and "Who's it for?" It's a very strange question to me; it's for human beings.