An obsessive attention to the news, I've realized, only serves to paint a picture of the world as a throbbing blob of dysfunction, most news falling somewhere on a scale from disappointing to calamitous.

Each film is difficult, in its own particular way. There's a unique set of challenges on every movie.

I learned to choose my battles. Sometimes I let my producer deal with something that I didn't want to deal with.

A lot of times, we're just sold these movies that are really cynically conceived and marketed, and they just want you there opening weekend, before everybody finds out it's not so good.

My trick is the trick that everyone knows: Work really hard and prepare.

One thing I'm most proud of, in my movies, is that I think the performances are super-strong, but that's not all me. I think part of it is casting appropriately.

I learned a lesson which I didn't heed: Don't put yourself in your movies. It's too much.