So the city [Pittsburgh] was faced with that question of "What to do now?" because it can't turn back the clock and be what it once was. So thematically, it seemed like the perfect location for the movie. And then, it's a matter of how we get that feeling into the picture and make it a part of [Michael] Chabon's story.

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

We're not used to seeing movies, especially with physical action, when it isn't the man who comes in to save the day.

In L.A. Confidential, it was great to surprise the audience with Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe - two Australian actors that they didn't know at all - and let people discover them through the course of the film.

What you care about [movie] is whether it's moving you, or whether you're caught up in 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?

Even though L.A Confidential box-office was a fraction of, say, Titanic or the Grinch movie, it finds its audience and will continue doing so for who knows how long, because of the basic thing we love about movies, which is storytelling and performances.