History opens up new worlds to film-makers all the time.

History opens up new worlds to film-makers all the time.

There were so many odd, strange things about Abraham Lincoln that I think nobody knew how to pigeonhole him.

You can't intellectually purge yourself of who you are. Whatever that is, it's going to come out in the wash, the film wash. What you are is going to be relevant, if not to yourself, to the movies you make.

I've always wanted to tell a story about Lincoln. I saw a paternal father figure; I saw someone who was completely, stubbornly committed to his ideals, to his vision.

Technology can be our best friend, and technology can also be the biggest party pooper of our lives. It interrupts our own story, interrupts our ability to have a thought or a daydream, to imagine something wonderful, because we're too busy bridging the walk from the cafeteria back to the office on the cell phone.

If the world ran the way a crew runs a set, we'd have a better, more progressive world.