It was the era of Tab Hunter and Rock Hudson; they all had a certain look.

The whole concept of the devil is a metaphor on one level.

Look at Walter Huston in The Devil and Daniel Webster: It's an incredible performance.

Well I don't think I've scored my life exclusively to Ray Charles.

My creative partner is a writer, and he's got an executive producing credit on this film. We've made three films together and I would never underestimate the impact of a writer.

I make films about working class people. All my films have always been about that. For example, the brothel is a workplace. It's aberrant, but a workplace nonetheless. I was more interested as opposed to glamorizing and saying, oh, this is a great erotic place, it's a place of business. The commodity is sex.

I'm not in front of the camera, they are. I encourage them; I build up as much of their confidence and ego as possible. They've got to take control; I can't act it out.