Making a film that's supposed to be fun to watch is really hard - that's the weird irony of it.

But my sense in talking to people when I travel is that the film business is not that dissimilar from a lot of other businesses.

I feel I need to really think about whether there's a way to use what skill I have to address things that outrage me, like the 13 year old girl getting stoned to death. Because I don't think making a movie is going to help that, or change that.

There is sadness of when you're watching someone enjoy something that you think is substandard. The ineffable sadness when someone is happy and something is not as good as it should be.

My first three movies, I didn't start editing until we were finished shooting. That's unthinkable to me now.

I try to use other songs or bands as reference points - it seems like the easiest way to get across what are really differences of taste or opinion. If you know what kind of music somebody loves, then you can kind of figure out why they do what they do.

The key is, if youre not monkeying around with the script, then everything usually goes pretty well.