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.

When Ray Charles is concentrating he's like a piece of granite, nothing twitches, nothing, ... He sat for 25 minutes solid like that, like a stone, and I thought, 'Oh my God, if he doesn't like it I'm dead.' ... And then finally, after 25 minutes he started to talk back to the screen. I heard him say 'That's right. That's the truth.' .

Ray Charles, in his own way, it's like at the beginning, Ray Charles changed American music, not once but twice.

The score is always the wonderful icing. The score tells you the emotional content of the film. What the characters don't say, the music can say.

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.

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

I also know what looks good before the camera, how to move the camera, and how to get a story on the screen.