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.

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.

We are manipulated by fear and the fear of others, and how we're often manipulated into doing things and voting in ways that are against our own best interest. Look at healthcare. People will tell you that healthcare is socialism and communism, and they're doing this while their wife needs an operation and their kid needs braces.

Usually the characters are where I start. Then I continually ask myself, 'What's the worst thing that could happen to this character?'

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

We're trying to reinvent Bond. He's 28 - no Q, no gadgets.

If there's magic in boxing, it's the magic of fighting battles beyond endurance, beyond cracked ribs, ruptured kidneys and detached retinas. It's the magic of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you.