In TV, there's so much compromise, it does start to grate a bit. But if you're a writer or an actor, it really is the place to be.

I'm a very hard-line, angry atheist. Yet I am fascinated by the concept of devotion.

My life has included a study of Shakespeare and to me it's very natural, but I know that it's not always accessible to other people.

What I do like is hiking. And that's what filmmaking is. It's a hike. It's challenging and exhausting, and you don't know what the terrain is going to be or necessarily even which direction you're going in... but it sure is beautiful.

The fact of the matter is fame predates even the age of cinema. There's always been fame, there's always been the caveman who's prettier or killed a bigger lion, or somebody started a story about a guy.

The goal is always about the next story. It's always about the thing I haven't done before. It's about learning, or it's about becoming better, and it's about whatever story grabs hold of me.

You take people, you put them on a journey, you give them peril, you find out who they really are.