I'm a veteran, and I come from a family of veterans and people who served in that war. And the stories that I heard were a hell of a lot different than the movies that I was seeing, so I wanted to make a movie about the people that were really there.

When I make a movie, it's almost a relief to get shooting 'cause the hell is over, or part of the hell is over.

The worst part of directing is always seeing the first assembly. It's devastating. It really is. It's like going into the delivery room and you can't wait to see your baby, and it's a crocodile.

In the writing phase, normally I try not to envisage any particular actors because I like to let the characters sort of reveal themselves in that process.

Even the scrutiny is good because it lets you know the world cares about your movie, and there is interest in it.

[If] you want to learn something about somebody, get into a fistfight. You'll learn more in five minutes than you will in five weeks of conversations. It's basic.

I'm one of those big believers that the movie comes together in the way it's supposed to be and that movies are fated to become what they become.