My childhood was elegant homes, tree lined streets, the milkman, building backyard forts, droning airplanes, blue skies, picket fences, green grass, cherry trees. Middle America as it’s supposed to be. But on the cherry tree there’s this pitch oozing out – some black, some yellow – and millions of red ants crawling all over it. I discovered that if one looks a little closer at this beautiful world, there are always red ants underneath.

I have no problem getting financing. I have a problem catching ideas that I fall in love with for the next feature.

Making a film is a beautiful mystery. You go deep into the wood, and you don't want to come out of that wood.

There's always fear of the unknown where there's mystery.

An artist makes a painting, and nobody bugs him or her about it. It's just you and your painting. To me, that's the way it should be with film as well.

You're right on the money with that. We're all like detectives in life. There's something at the end of the trail that we're all looking for.

I love industry. Pipes. I love fluid and smoke. I love man-made things. I like to see people hard at work, and I like to see sludge and man-made waste.