I suppose a good director is like a teacher. I think that someone like David Cronenberg was very much like a teacher, because there's an openness, but a certain set of rules of behavior, and a certain conduct expected. But there's an atmosphere that's relaxed and conducive to exploration, and that is created by someone like Cronenberg.

I'm optimistic about people and about the planet and about nature. I think it's resilient, like people are.

Even the implication that The Lord of the Rings is a mythic story about Western, white supremacy - regardless of the political leanings of anyone who tries to make that case - is a load of self-justifying, destructive horseshit.

Kids accept where they are because they don't know the past. They know what they have; they know where they are.

Anyone can identify with those moments in life where circumstances or people inform us that we've strayed from the path of our better nature and intentions. We know what that's like, and we resist it - so as not to feel like we're bad people.

The Road was a movie that has a good reputation, even though it wasn't released very well, but that's a movie I'm very proud of.

In a movie, you're raw material, just a hue of some color and the director makes the painting.