So with 'There Will Be Blood,' I didn't even really feel like I was adapting a book. I was just desperate to find stuff to write.

Well I'd really love to work with Robert De Niro, because he's still the most talented actor out there.

I don't want to be the angry guy.

I had the standard movie geek childhood, because for as long as I can remember, all I wanted to do was make movies.

My writing has a lot to do with who I am, and what my life is like, and my relationships to people.

If you figure a way to live without serving a master, any master, then let the rest of us know, will you? For you'd be the first person in the history of the world.

I really subscribe to that old adage that you should never let the audience get ahead of you for a second. So if the film's abrasive and wrongfoots people then, y'know, that's great. But I hope it involves an audience.