I have a lot more writing experience than Paul Dano has, so to be able to put that experience to use in exercising his vision was almost an acting exercise: How would I write if I were Paul? When I look at it, it feels so completely his, but it's also mine.

What I did have was an incredible amount of belief in myself.

I think action should be revealed through character, so if you have a plot problem, it's probably a character problem.

When we do something we're not proud of, a lot of people don't want to look at that, people may say "what people don't know won't hurt them."

I don't have a lot of patience for boring arthouse movies.

My hero is Michelle Williams, who I grew close to when we did 'Meek's Cutoff.' She's an extraordinary actor and mom.

I always wrote. My parents are writers. It just seemed like something people did.