I try to keep feeling what's going on and try to use the camera, the actors and the design to enhance those feelings. There's something really emotionally direct and honest about how I put the material with the images. You hope that the strength of mise-en-scene comes from an honesty towards the material. You also hire really well.

You are always factoring in the economy within the process of creating something, and making decisions that seem both fearless and full of fear.

For me, an actor is really, first and foremost, a person and an individual, more than they are an actor or a professional.

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.

To be a creative person and be a professional, as an artist you have to be able to withstand pain, rejection, and for some, a lot of bad feelings, but you have to be able to look through those.

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

As a father, I wanted to make a movie that my kids can love.