We live in a disposable society. It's easier to throw things out than to fix them. We even give it a name - we call it recycling.

I see bits and pieces of me in all the characters in my films.

I think Christine and Chad are on the opposite extremes of the spectrum. Christine is a model victim, and Chad is a model perpetrator, and Howard is closer to the middle.

I was always looking for the most dramatic emphasis. One example would be the letter writing, or the reading of the letters. If you remember from the book, they find the letters and then in the most undramatic way they take them downstairs, they get approval, they sit at a table during the day with their own author, across from each other.

And I've got some screenplays and plays ready to dip into when I need to.

Relationships in general make people a bit nervous. It's about trust. Do I trust you enough to go there?

With In the Company of Men, the misogynist label stuck early and firmly. In the end, it probably did hurt the film a bit, because getting women into the theaters was difficult.