Essentially, no one can control what other people think of the final outcome. Once it's done, the audience will like it or not, they may even think I'm an idiot. They can also think I'm brilliant or whatever, I can't control that. What I can control is the joy in putting it together, the process of the work itself. I try and create an atmosphere where we're all enjoying the work. That's the only thing you can hold on to, the only true thing.

I think being a good parent means that every day is a different challenge. It's about mindfulness and trying to be present. I think life goes really quickly and it's very easy to be tuned out, and not be present. That is what I've learned in my parenting experience, and I continue to be mindful of it.

Most people assume because I'm an actor that's all I know about and care about, I'm actually a camera geek and a film geek. I grew up making short films the same time I was acting. For me, it's a motion picture, not a play. I'm just as interested in what the camera department is doing and world building through costume design and production design as I am in acting. I think all good directors do that whether they're an actor or not.

Essentially, no one can control what other people think of the final outcome. Once it's done, the audience will like it or not, they may even think I'm an idiot. They can also think I'm brilliant or whatever, I can't control that. What I can control is the joy in putting it together, the process of the work itself. I try and create an atmosphere where we're all enjoying the work. That's the only thing you can hold on to, the only true thing.

A lot of directors on a base level are fearful of actors and maybe even distrustful. I love the craft of acting and I love actors so I think they can probably sense that. They also know that I understand what their process is, having done it myself. The thing I come back to over and over again is that for most people who are not analyzing it from a critical point of view, most iconic film moments are actor moments. We show up to commune with another human being and their experience. We don't show up necessarily to watch a really cool dolly shot.

I think that we are all the heroes of our own story, and I think life comes in all shades of gray. Personally, I love movies that exist like this, where you think someone can behave both heroically and like a villain.

The real truth - like anything, you have an idea about something you might write and it changes. People reflect on it or you get other ideas and maybe your original idea is radically different than how it ends up being. It's not a theorem. You don't sit down and prove something. You start with an initial idea and it grows and grows. The math of the narrative changes. In some ways your original document and what the film ends up being are quite different.