The world doesn't grieve when you're grieving. The world goes on about its business. You're having a good day and I'm having a bad one and vice versa. And they could be very good and very bad at the same time. You multiply that by seven billion and you have one element of human experience.

I was nearly a teen-ager before I stopped assuming that everyone I met was Jewish.

I've reached a new level of closeness with a new friend when I can make a joke at their expense. That's one of the great joys of life for me.

Teenagers all think their life is a movie. If you break up with someone or you have a fight, you walk around with movie scores playing in your head. You sort of see yourself suffering as you're suffering. There's a lot of melodrama attached to the real events of your life.

Filmmaking, like any other art, is a very profound means of human communication; beyond the professional pleasure of succeeding or the pain of failing, you do want your film to be seen, to communicate itself to other people.

You can shoot a film in New York without seeing the Empire State Building. Or Starbucks...although the latter is much less realistic.

It's not a character flaw to become an adult.