For me, I look at a project that has a story that's going to resonate in some way. It doesn't have to be about a message. It doesn't have to have some underlying theme of overwhelming importance.

It's exciting to me that Ride Along is a movie that has two African American leads, but it's even more exciting to me that it's not a movie about two African American leads. They just happen to be African American. It's a universal story. It's a story about a guy in love with a girl, and he's gotta get the approval of the overbearing, mean brother. That's a universal theme.

For me, I look at a project that has a story that's going to resonate in some way. It doesn't have to be about a message. It doesn't have to have some underlying theme of overwhelming importance.

My philosophy is making a movie is difficult enough and I just feel as if you should have a really good time when you do make films whether it's a drama or a comedy.

I never want someone to come out of one of my films and say, "Damn. I wasted an hour and a half of my life." I'm trying to avoid that.

It's always better if you can keep the bar low, and then exceed the expectation. When it's high, that makes the job even tougher. But, I think we're up for the challenge. We're ready.

It's tough to get any movie made, but unless it's a movie about race or culture or ethnicity, it's becoming less and less important who's playing what. You see that on the big screen and the small screen, and I think that's great. That's exciting.