Screenwriting is like ironing. You move forward a little bit and go back and smooth things out.

I am always looking for that nuance, that moment of truth, and you can't really do that fast.

My older sister was at the cusp of new wave, and I had older brothers from my father's first marriage who were rock 'n' roll guys, so I was exposed to a lot of popular culture.

But I'd be lying if I didn't say that every time you go to make a film, you're desperate to either do it better than you did it last time or to not repeat yourself.

It felt like the first thing, but when I first started out, I got a job adapting a book by Russell Banks called 'Rule Of The Bone.' I didn't do a very good job. I didn't really know what I was doing in general, let alone how to adapt a book.

Screenwriting is like ironing. You move forward a little bit and go back and smooth things out.

I didn't have any desire I might have had 10 years ago to shoot every single word that I wrote.