I had a huge advantage with Edward Norton because he's directed a movie before, so one thing he appreciates is how hard my job is, he's very sensitive to that. We actually ended up finishing "Leaves of Grass" a day early.

I tend to have a kind of tunnel vision when I'm looking at an individual piece.

I've observed over and over that people seem to get a much deeper sense of fulfillment out of something they've done as an act of service than out of the things they do for themselves.

You know, independent films have been institutionalized, practically. Every studio has got a boutique arthouse label.

Popularity is the slutty little cousin of prestige, my friend.

What we set out to do with this movie [Leaves of Grass] was to create something that was funny and serious and had large tonal ambitions. A movie that could be poignant and funny, and suddenly quite violent. To have a character utterly sideswiped, and to learn that life is about balance.

A lot of why I do something is just the novelty of the experience.