You'd be surprised how many writers, or how many actors, if they miss a paycheck or two, they've got nothing. As a writer or an actor you can have four or five jobs in one year and then have none for two years.

Unless I'm really uneasy with what I'm writing, I lose interest very quickly.

I was in a cult for thirty-four years. Everyone else could see it. I don’t know why I couldn’t.

I don't think it's the job of filmmakers to give anybody answers. I do think, though, that a good film makes you ask questions of yourself as you leave the theatre.

We all have these tendencies in us that could go this way or that. I think that's the real key in writing. To look at a character without judgment.

I wanted to do a political film that is as nonpartisan as can be, because I wanted to do a story that was American. I wanted to tell an American tragedy.

You have to be careful of the advice you take.