Imagination is the most powerful tool you have. You learn it from all the greats. The Star Wars films are secretive. Anything J.J. Abrams does is secretive. Those guys haven't done too poorly.

Being [in] a show that you get to say good-bye instead of being asked to leave is a real honor.

The only reason I acted in school was because of the community. I was in the chorus of every play and was never the lead other than one time, but to me it was about the community. I was an English major and my whole goal was to be an English teacher and was lucky enough to get into the playwriting group. The whole experience I had at Brown was eye opening and the most mind-bending experience.

James Cagney as a baby is not my ideal thing.

To be an actor and a director, I actually felt it helped me tremendously to be in the scenes of The Hollars, because as you can see, they're very intimate, very intense scenes. You don't want to break the actor's character and you don't want to break their momentum, so as the actor, I tried not to call cut as much as I could, and almost make it feel like a play, just set this environment where these amazing actors could do what they wanted to do.

My favorite scene on the show [The Office] is on the booze cruise when I finally get to talk to her and tell her, and I react exactly how I would react by saying nothing.

My family's the best so to call and say, 'I'm in a movie with Robin Williams,' and they're like, 'That's ridiculous.' And I'm like, 'Good, as long as you think that, too.' Because as soon as you say, 'I deserve this,' it's over."