But I enjoy the opportunity to use swear symbols.

For example, I noticed that every single kid in the high school in 'The Death-Ray' is based on somebody I went to high school with.

In a movie, you have to be mindful that no budget is going to be able to deal with running around the globe at every whim of the writer.

I think that's what we're all most terrified about: that we'll just die and disappear and we'll leave no trace.

It keeps me moving when I see people doing stuff that I see as "my" direction. I think, "Oh, it's been tainted. Now I've got to do something new." There's nothing worse than working on your own stuff and thinking that someone else is following you along.

I have cultivated a little crew of people whose opinions I understand. It's like the way you'd follow certain film critics because you know what their criteria are, and you may not agree with them, but you can glean from their opinion how you will feel about a film.

I see a lot of possibilities in the age of my characters - between 18 and 21. You have a window of opportunity when you leave your childhood behind and have this chance to become what you always wanted to be. For me, that was a time when I could have gone many different ways. I was in flux and deciding what kind of person I would become. There's something interesting about the vision of what that will be and the reality of making that happen, and how you really are what you are. Unless you're "in character," it's impossible to get around that.