You always have to be ahead of the audience so that they have to always catch up and know the movie's not quite going exactly where you think it's going, or expecting it to be going.

I don't make movies with the idea that people are going to walk out of them feeling comfortable or better about themselves or more secure in their own biases or opinions.

Compromise is part and parcel of making a movie. It's a question of the kinds of compromises that you have to make.

So far, at least, I haven't found a way to tell my kind of stories without making them both sad and funny.

There can be a blurry line between laughing at the expense of a character and laughing at the recognition of something painful and true. But blurry as it may be, it is nevertheless unmistakable, and sometimes the laughter I hear makes me wince.

Casting is everything. If you get the right people they make you look good.

I love working with actors. If you cast the right person in the right part at the right time, they make you look like a better writer and director than you really are.