I think there is something beautiful in reveling in sadness. The proof is how beautiful sad songs can be. So I don’t think being sad is to be avoided. It’s apathy and boredom you want to avoid. But feeling anything is good, I think. Maybe that’s sadistic of me.

Hollywood has the idea that movies have to be dumb. But especially movies for or about teenagers have to be really dumb!

I knew that if I wanted to really maintain control, I would have to keep the budget down. And I did. And I feel very fortunate that - y'know, this movie [Don Jon] - frame for frame, line for line - is exactly what I wanted it to be. Nobody made me change anything.

Let's face it, most pretty girls aren't funny.

I think some of the best actors ever were little kids.

Normally you read a screenplay - and I read a lot of them - and the characters don't feel like people. They feel like plot devices or cliches or stereotypes.

Darkness is a lot of what art is and certainly in our community a lot of it is people sort of wrestling with their demons.