The Communist regime didn't consider this to be a shining moment in history and assigned no heroism to it. They classified it as merely an accident.

For some individuals - some soldiers, some contractors - combat provides a kind of purpose and meaning beyond which all else potentially pales in comparison.

What's most galvanizing for me is the opportunity to be topical and relevant and entertaining. That's the holy grail.

I'd love to just think of myself as a filmmaker, and I wait for the day when the modifier can be a moot point.

I don't do what I do to try and break a glass ceiling.

My dad used to draw these great cartoon figures. His dream was being a cartoonist, but he never achieved it, and it kind of broke my heart. I think part of my interest in art had to do with his yearning for something he could never have.

I always want to make films. I think of it as a great opportunity to comment on the world in which we live. Perhaps just because I just came off "The Hurt Locker" (2008) and I'm thinking of the war and I think it's a deplorable situation. It's a great medium in which to speak about that. This is a war that cannot be won, why are we sending troops over there? Well, the only medium I have, the only opportunity I have, is to use film. There will always be issues I care about.