I did The Newton Boys and during the whole process of making the film, I may have spent a week in Los Angeles.

I can't help but think that at the end of your life, when you look back, there'll be a tone. And that tone will come from the essence of how you live your day to day what you did in that between time because that is really your life.

I think casting is really important. Finding the right sensibility for the right part is an art in itself. If you're off there, you make it harder on yourself as a director. And it's fun to work that out with the actors. I don't think there's any magic to directing actors. It's very instinctual. Working with actors is really one of my favorite creative moments of the whole process, and the most fun, because it's collaborative. I spend a lot of time rehearsing. I'm very rehearsal-oriented, probably because I have some background in theater. I like knowing what will work beforehand.

The big nut to crack is to how to tell a story, what’s the right way to tell a particular story.

There are so many great artists, I think, who kind of suffer from being icons, legends, acknowledged masters.

Your friends are really an extension of your vision of the world. It's kind of a physical manifestation of how you feel. Like your soul.

If you establish rules and play by them, the audience will buy in.