I’m a deeply broken person, and broken institutions fascinate me.

You don't make a film because the audience is ready for it. You make a film because you have questions that are in your gut.

I like to write about things about which I have no answers, questions that trouble me. These things trouble me.

Independent films are very hard to get made, but I'm lucky enough to get them made, so I'm going to keep doing it. I like my independence. I like being able to tell a story the way I want to tell a story. I don't like developing it with a team. I like coming to a story and deciding whether I want to do it or not.

You have to be careful of the advice you take.

I found two true stories. One was in 2003. One was the beginning of 2004. I decided to meld them. Richard Davis' story which is the largest portion of this, a lot of the events are exactly as you saw, exactly what happened and the locations. Exactly as it was said with the chicken house and the strip club. Richard's parents were on the set and they'll tell you that the story is different than their son's. I was very concerned because I called them to say, 'You understand I'm fictionalizing this story?

This is our fault. My fault as much as the next man's, because even if I was against the war, I didn't do enough to stop it.