I really look for peak experiences and dramatic material that can allow peak experiences.

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.

Cinema has the capacity to be so physiological.

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

I thrive on production. It feels very much like a natural environment for me.

There should be more women directing; I think there's just not the awareness that it's really possible.

Perhaps the only thing in my favor is that I am very tenacious. I don't take 'no' very well.