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

You have to be careful of the advice you take.

The radical rightwing pegs Hollywood as a leftist town, which is completely wrong. There are a lot of actors, writers, and directors who talk a liberal agenda... but all the studio bosses, for as long as there have been studios, have all been as far rightwing as you can possibly imagine.

There are very few guys like me. I make a lot of money. I didn't always.

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 never did just one take. Multiple takes. Many. I did a bunch. Sometimes I do one take. Sometimes I did 20.

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