I'm a version of the same person.

I'm a version of the same person.

By 1988, I was living in New York myself.

I think as a gay person, there was no way in my generation to not grow up with shame and a sense of being wrong. It was impossible to avoid. Externally, you might make choices that are very public and very open but internally that was a struggle.

My early films were about self discovery, and films of internal conflict. At that level, they were very personal.

I try not to articulate ideas in the film once I've arrived on the plot and the characters. I believe that if I focus my attention with enough compassion and heart on those things, then other things will be revealed, and that's from the education that I've had from the novel.

When working on and writing a film, I'm often more of a sponge than other times, aware of what's going on around me.