When you make a drama, you spend all day beating a guy to death with a hammer, or what have you. Or, you have to take a bite out of somebody's face. On the other hand, with a comedy, you yell at Billy Crystal for an hour, and you go home.

It's a very stressful thing, directing a movie. You have the budget, you have the schedule, you are in certain confines, and you have everybody giving you advice about what to do.

Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady?

Passion should always trump common sense.

I never walk into a place I don't know how to walk out of.

My mother worked for a woman, Maria Ley-Piscator, who with her husband founded the Dramatic Workshop, which was connected to the New School. My mother did proofreading and typing and stuff or her, and as part of her payment, I was able to take acting classes there on Saturdays when I was 10.

When you feel that you can't fight it, you just go for it. When it comes to the arts, passion should always trump common sense.