I had a checkered early career, for sure, with a lot of very unhappy experiences where pictures got taken away, re-cut, re-titled... all the nightmares one hears about.

What I try to do is give each actor an environment in which they can do their best work.

I make that distinction only because I came to it strictly as someone who was just a lover of storytellers and cinematic storytellers.

I didn't look at it as a transition so much, because I never intended to have a career as a journalist, writing about people who make movies.

Initially, it connected with me when I was a kid, seeing a lot of movies while growing up in Los Angeles. And Sam's [Fuller] pictures are an expression of such a distinct voice that he was one of those filmmakers who made me aware that there was, in fact, a real presence behind the camera that was telling the story, as opposed to actors just presenting it.

When I'm casting a picture, I think who I'd like to see in it if I was sitting in a theater. Who would surprise me?

I stopped doing that [photojournalism] and wrote some screenplays on speculation, because even though I wanted to direct, to direct you need a lot of money. Even for a cheap movie, you need film stock and equipment and actors.