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.

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.

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.

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

Stories of friendship are very interesting to me. Artificial families are something I like to explore. Whether it's a bunch of guys or a bunch of ladies, there's something interesting about that.

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.