But usually I'll wake up and start writing about nine o'clock. I'll probably write for about three hours, and I'll do that over the next month and a half.

I'm not saying they won't be bigger projects someday.

As soon as the actor steps into the role, you probably can cut 50% of the lines because there's a person there now. And what a person does with their eyes, with their mouth, with their hands, the way they walk into a room, you can probably cut half the scene.

I think it's important to have a good sense of humor and joke around with your kids. That's what I do a lot.

There is a joke that I use all the time. I say it to my kids. I used to say it to my wife. She'd be talking to me about something very serious and then I would just look at her and go "Where are you from originally?" And she would go "Humphhh! C'mon. That's terrible!"

If you find that thing you love, it doesn't necessarily matter whether you do it well or not-you just need to do it.

I'd read Up in the Old Hotel, and I wanted to do something with Mitchell's stuff for a long time.