So it's discouraging and, yet, when you make a movie like Wonder Boys, in a sense it's its own reward, because it does move people, it gets great reviews, and it becomes part of that library of movies that exist out there. As time goes by, it will find its audience.

Here [in Wonder Boys] I had this group of characters where you didn't know which were the important ones or what direction they were heading.

You can dress it up, but it comes down to the fact that a movie is only as good as its script.

First of all, Sam Fuller left a group of extraordinary movies that are unique, that are "Fuller-esque," as one might say, which makes them stand apart from any other director's films.

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

You can imagine what it was like for me to actually be sitting in a room with matching typewriters, working under the tutelage of this guy I so admired, both as a filmmaker and as a man.

Hollywood, of course, is the city of illusion.