Let's just shoot in black and white. Don't explain why. Have no reason for it. Just do it because it's interesting.

I could be just a writer very easily. I am not a writer. I am a screenwriter, which is half a filmmaker... But it is not an art form, because screenplays are not works of art. They are invitations to others to collaborate on a work of art.

I was looking for people who didn't have any preconceptions about films, what I call the "post-rules" generation.

The secret of the creative life is how to feel at ease with your own embarrassment. We're all in the dirty laundry business and we're being paid to take risks and look silly. Race car drivers get paid to risk their lives in a more concrete way; we get paid to risk our lives in an emotional way.

Nobody has shot a strip club in black and white in a long time.

I don't think it's very useful to open wide the door for young artists; the ones who break down the door are more interesting.

Film noir is not a genre. It is not defined, as are the western and gangster genres, by conventions of setting and conflict, but rather by the more subtle qualities of tone and mood. It is a film 'noir', as opposed to the possible variants of film gray or film off-white.