I don't want to restrict the life of a play to a particular production. The original actors might leave after the first six months, and I want the play to last 30 or 40 years. You write for the character, not the actor on the stage.

He's too nervous to kill himself. He wears his seat belt in a drive-in movie.

A lot of your personality is formed before you're 12, obviously, but only a few of my plays use characters from my childhood. The more mature plays are affected only by my adult experiences.

I was constantly being dragged out of movies for laughing too loud.

I don't like losing the words, as you have to, when I'm asked to turn a play into a movie. It's not a matter of ego . . . I'm just better able to create the character for an audience through words rather than through actions.

I feel like writing about a time when I was probably, and think all of us are, the happiest before the obligations start in.

If you can go through life without experiencing pain you probably haven't been born yet.