It's a no-win situation with politics, it's always going to be stressful. I'm more into the comedy of life.

What teenagers are ready to laugh at is the misery of other people.

I'd been taught from an early age that I was in the other category on the standardized tests. You know, I had to go down the checklist - Caucasian, African-American, Latino, Asian-Pacific Islander, and then, you know, at the bottom is other. So, you know, very early on I was taught, in a way, that I was somehow this anomaly.

I look at racism as one of the social demons. And, in its worst, it's violent and it's a systemic commitment to oppression.

As kids, there's somehow the fear that these bullies can end your life if they want to. Everything is blown up, and occasionally that kind of awful thing does happen.

How we act with each other really reveals our most animal instincts.

You hear it said time and time again by successful directors: You have to make a movie for yourself. Don't make it for anyone else. My style of filmmaking happens to be give the audience what they know they don't want, but they want. Ultimately I have to write and direct in a way that let's just say, you don't want to regret making a choice.