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.

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

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.

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

You know, I'm really not that competent at describing things musically.

The films that I love are very straightforward stories, like really old-fashioned stuff.

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.