Any film I do is not going to change the way black women have been portrayed, or black people have been portrayed, in cinema since the days of D.W. Griffith.

Everybody does what they want to do for their own specific reasons.

If people go to IMDB, they will see that I'm very comfortable with independent cinema, and doing studio films too. For me this is not an either/or situation.

Most human beings will not stand in front of a stage and tell you about the bad things they did.

I'm not the go-to guy. Everybody is trying to tell their story and have different ways of telling it.

'25th Hour,' like a lot of my films, takes place in New York City. I've been very fortunate to make films in the city that I live. I mean, it's great going home at night instead of being on location.

'She's Gotta Have It' was shot in twelve days and two six-day weeks.