Writing a screenplay is like writing a big puzzle, and so the hardest part, I think, is getting the story.

We usually break the story first. For instance, on The Monuments Men, and this one is more complicated because there's a lot of history, so before we started, we sat down with Robert Edsel, the author of the book, for about a week, and basically, he just gave us a lecture and went through everything. And then, I had a researcher, somebody who we had actually used on Argo.

Writing a screenplay is like writing a big puzzle, and so the hardest part, I think, is getting the story.

The Ides of March was a fairly cynical film.

I didnt want to be 50 or 60 and auditioning for a three-line role.

There are times when you work with directors on set, and things are a bit rudderless, and those can be good directors.

I acted for so many years and sat on a million sets and worked with a million different directors so that is to me some of the best training you can get.