To me, sadness and humor aren't disrelated and humor is the best tool I've had against the sadness in my life.

Film is endlessly just beyond your reach. I think that's what I love so much about it.

I guess I watch movies to make myself happier a lot.

I would hate to think I'm promoting sadness as an aesthetic. But I grew up in not just a family but a town and a culture where sadness is something you're taught to feel shame about. You end up chronically desiring what can be a very sentimental idea of love and connection. A lot of my work has been about trying to make a space for sadness.

We never did things as we were supposed to do. That was part of our ethic. We did what felt right to us, not what someone told us we should do.

I definitely believe in the energy of the set and the energy of the actor, way more than your written word.

If you ask me, the place that a story happens is as equal character. It's almost like an ecological viewpoint: These people are living in this piece of land, and in this piece of land in this time this is possible. For me, I almost think location first. It's time first - what year is it - then where are we, and then who is in it.