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.

The hope is what America represents to the world and has always represented - the hope for a better life and a better world. We have a duty to protect and support that hope with not just our words, but with our deeds.

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.

If you change the right mind, then that person can perhaps change the world.

We crash into each other just so we can feel something.

When we're threatened, it's very easy to appeal to our basic natures.

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.