The most important thing is, how can I move forward towards something that I can't articulate, that is new in storytelling with moving images and sound?

Working with HBO was an opportunity to experience creative freedom and 'long-form development' that filmmakers didn't have a chance to do before the emergence of shows like 'The Sopranos.'

Well the thing is that the New York of 1846 to 1862 was very different from downtown New York now. Really nothing from that period still exists in New York.

Every year or so, I try to do something; it keeps me refreshed as to what's going on in front of the lens, and I understand what the actor is going through.

That subject matter has never left me...The more you're in the material world, the more there is a tendency for a search for serenity and a need to not be distracted by physical elements that are around you.

You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it.

All my life, I never really felt comfortable anywhere in New York, except maybe in an apartment somewhere.