One man's uplift is another man's sentimental hooey.

A movie can and should have some real dissonance throughout - rage, heartache, tears, conflict, catharsis and all the other elements Aristotle demanded of a good story - but the chord has to be resolved.

It's really hard to be poor in New York - I was really poor when I lived in New York.

I don’t think evil people or negative people are inherently interesting all the time. People who are good people getting better at being themselves - to me, that’s something that’s really interesting to watch.

There's something touching about a kid who's reading a book that's printed on actual paper. I think that anything that kids start reading, within reason, can lead to other discoveries.

I really like to travel when I write. Something about seeing new things and being in new cultures and environments provokes new thoughts in your head.

I'm a little less hungry as an actor than I used to be. When you're a director, you're the conductor of the orchestra, and when you're an actor, you're playing the violin. There's a thrill to each of them, but as the conductor, you get the fuller sound.