I want to make accessible movies for bright people, but I don't want to play games and be coy.

The better the script, the less money there is. That's just the economics of the studio system.

I think it's a fantastic thing to be alive.

I've wanted to direct for a long time, but it had to be a story I wanted to tell. The writer's job is to find the story that he should tell.

I learned early on that there are all sorts of stories I have no place telling.

I can't stop terrorism; I can't cure cancer. But I can put some stories out there in their own quiet way that talk about tolerance.

My job as a dramatist is to find out where these characters want to go, and make it as hard as possible for them to get there.