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.

As a writer, you have to be willing to kill your darlings, and I'm a writer first. As a director, I've got no problem cutting the scenes.

The most terrifying thing in my life is a blank sheet of paper.

I'm all about real drama, real performance, and real people, so my twist on this is: I'm creating a family, a brotherhood here. I'm creating a very real chemistry and I have this incredible ensemble of actors led by Will Smith, who are basically playing dimensional characters with lives and souls.

I feel like, as a filmmaker, I'm at my strongest when I write the script and when it comes from me, out of whole cloth. My best work has always been self-generated.

It's important for me to take very famous, well-known people and not have them play themselves and not have them be seen as themselves.

Actors are insanely competitive and they hold back on each other. They are like magicians and none of them want to show their tricks.