I always wanted to do a movie that deals with America's horrific past with slavery, but the way I wanted to deal with it is - as opposed to doing it as a huge historical movie with a capital H - I thought it could be better if it was wrapped up in genre.

I really become the characters when I'm writing them. I'll become one or two of them more than others, I'm consistent that way.

If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions.

I am doing what I'm doing, and if you don't like it, don't go see it.

When it came to a lot of these German actors with the English, they just couldn't do it. They couldn't get the poetry out of it. They couldn't own it and make it their own. And then Christoph [Waltz] came in, and I didn't know who Christoph was.

My parents said, Oh, he's going to be a director someday. I wanted to be an actor.

I loved history because to me, history was like watching a movie.