You're being mean to someone who's helping you. What is that? Everyone knows who the assholes are, and I avoid them.

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.

I guess why the Ocean's films are hard for me is because on the one hand you have to make sure the performances are there, but on the other hand it's a film that demands, to my mind, a very layered and complex visual scheme. That takes a lot of time to figure out.

You can create meaning where there was none, you can create feeling where there was none, you can create narrative where there was none. Two frames can be the difference between something that works and something that doesn't. It's fascinating.

I had more fun making Traffic than either of the Ocean's films.

I tend to be drawn more to people than pure story ideas.