When the AIDS epidemic first started there were people who said, "Well, if there weren't gays, then we wouldn't have this problem. It's got to be because of them - let it be them instead of us." But when you educate yourself about it, you can't help but realize that we're all affected by it. I think that things like that just become too daunting for people.

The only way change will ever happen is if we speak up, and we have to know that it actually has an impact. Because we have a lot more power than we think we do, I think.

I read "Milk" and immediately I was very emotional after reading it and then I saw the documentary - the one that Rob Epstein did - and I said that's it. I saw it with my daughter and that was it. This thing is a different thing. It's like I've been offered these kind of superhero movies or "Terminator" or whatever those movies are and I just go ahh.

Regardless of whether there was ballot manipulation or not, you still have 50 million people who voted for George W. Bush in the 2000 election. And why? Because he's fallible? Because he reminds you of us? That's what we do. We are hiring these people. They don't hire themselves. It's irresponsible to disregard this guy as some bumbling, blathering idiot who has no intelligence whatsoever.

'W.' is not necessarily a political film, but it was sort of a contrasting reality for me to get into George W. Bush as a character because of how I felt about his administration before I started making the film.

The last really expensive trip we took was so uncomfortable. It's so lazy. I want somebody to give me a great $30 massage as opposed to a bad $265 massage.

I read comic books and stuff but I didn't know a lot about it.