David O. Russell's best films are thrilling high wire acts that run the moment to moment risk of tumbling to the ground. In his latest, "Joy," Russell has more trouble than usual keeping his balance on the wire.

I hadn't made that movie before and when I ever met the real Joy Mangano, which happened because De Niro insisted we meet her and her father, that's what she felt like to us. She impressed us with her quiet, serene authority with herself.

When most people turn on their TVs, they don't expect a frank discussion of philosophical ideas in their practical context. Or any context.

If you just work on your craft hard, that's your only hope of doing anything worthwhile.

Unhappy endings can be as cheap as happy endings.

You should always make it like it's your last film. That's my personal belief. Every filmmaker is going to have another belief... That's the only way I know to try to make a film that might be good. You got to take it real seriously like it's your last thing.

The idea that anyone would think their religious ideas make them morally superior is just preposterous.