When you can come across a piece of material that's totally original and fun and completely satisfying, you jump on it.

The thing about TV is it's a meritocracy. I love that aspect of it - and I've had shows that have gone on the air and been canceled. I've seen the good and the bad of it.

To be a lone filmmaker thousands of miles from home with nobody believing in me, that seems romantic.

I think when the United States of America put a man on the moon in 1969, that was one of the greatest accomplishments mankind has ever done.

It turns out that it's easier to do politics in a movie. People really don't want it in their TV.

I make movies for me and posterity. I'm more scared of history than I am of the studio.

When I'm working on a film, I think about how it will play with a tiny audience of friends whose opinions I respect, basically a 40-bloc radius from my apartment in Manhattan.