I try not to think of actors as I'm writing because I think you do them a disservice by writing for things they've already done.

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.

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

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.

All the studios are owned by multinational corporations, which are not usually bastions of the left. So all the actors, writers, and directors - or at least a great majority of them - live in fear because we're all insecure, we all want that next job, we all want to be loved, and we don't want to piss off some studio chief who won't hire us for the next movie.

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