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.

There’s a lot for screenwriters to steal from songwriters, in terms of getting to the point.

I don't think it's a director's job to peek behind the curtain too much.

No matter how many times you do it, you don't get used to the sadness - for me at least - of coming to the end of a film.

I've never been a fan of whimsical or confusing storytelling.

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

You have to be a brat in order to carve out your parameters, and you have to be a monster to anyone who gets in your way. But sometimes it's difficult to know when that's necessary and when you're just being a baby, throwing your rattle from the cage.