I'm a patriot, and I think democracy is the best system available. It's very flawed, but it works better than anything else.

[Lyndon Baines ] Johnson is a big and larger-than-life guy, we just tried to give him the dynamic range that he actually had.

I always had a respect and an admiration for people who got into politics. I certainly have always been interested in law and political science.

Once you're a public figure, there's a certain amount of privacy you do give up.

Sometimes perfecting the one thing can be the enemy of getting any traction on anything else.

Dalton Trumbo actually was [ a hypocrite], because he liked his wealth, which was against the grain of being a Communist. I put title cards at the head of the film that explains the context.

My biggest role as director on the film is keeping a sense of the overview - how to cast the movie and shoot it in such a way that it will cut together. And how to design the style and tone.