I look for characters that interest me, and a story that keeps me involved and makes me want to know what happens next.

I can't speak to how Michael [Douglas] approached it in terms of his process.

My very first professional writing credit was on a movie called The Dunwich Horror, and Roger Corman was the executive producer.

I thought, "If I could bring these characters [Wonder Boys] to life and lead the audience to react the same way I did, this could be a really special picture." Then I read Michael's [Chabon] novel and got even more enthusiastic about it.

I had the great fortune to actually become friends with Sam [Fuller] and ultimately collaborate with him on White Dog, which we wrote together.

A day doesn't go by when I don't get a compliment on L.A. Confidential, for example.

Of course, Sam [Fuller] was like, "No problem," because he treated it like a newspaper deadline. We worked long hours, often very late into the night, in his garage, which had been converted into an office. It was freezing cold outside and there was no heat in the garage, so he had a little space heater over by his side and I had a blanket that he graciously gave me to drape around my shoulders like a Navajo Indian. And he gave me cigars, too, of course.