I love to take actors to a place where they open a vein. That’s the job. The key is that I make it safe for them to open the vein.

The only safe thing in filmmaking is to take a chance.

Any good movie is filled with secrets.

That seems to me the greatest American danger we're all in, that we'll bargain away the experience of being alive for the appearance of it.

I have never understood people dividing things into dramas and comedies.

It's not a filmmaker's job to explain his technique but to tell his story the best way he can.

I came to love silence, because it's so rare, and it's now my favorite aural condition.