A pitfall of making a comedy with a studio-and it's also an American cultural thing-is that I get tired of being encouraged to go always for laughs.

What is filmmaking but groping in the dark?

If you were falling in love and you could go back in time and relive a day and see the banal things you did that you'd forgotten about, you'd weep, looking at that day.

I like actors who, when you see them on screen, you sense a person, not just an actor.

I think a badly crafted, great idea for a new film with a ton of spelling mistakes is just 100 times better than a well-crafted stale script.

There is an audience out there for literate films - slower, more observant, more human films, and they deserve to be made.

You just never know when you're living in a golden age.

The biggest fear I have is to die with regrets, and of course that will come true.

I think cynicism lasts. Sentimentality ages, dates quickly.

If you have your movies so that everyone understands everything, I think that's probably not a very good movie.

I'm hoping one day I can make one really good film.

From the trunk of their scheme, choices and decisions sprouted like branches and shoots.

Men perish because they cannot join the beginning with the end.

You can't allow tradition to get in the way of innovation. There's a need to respect the past, but it's a mistake to revere your past.

and then Zach said a really bad word, but I doubt DeeDee noticed because it was in Farsi

I would love do a guest spot on Castle because Nathan Fillion is so dreamy, and he and I are friends. And I think we could have a lot of fun.

I don't see much use in general slogans. Sometimes it is worth resisting evil with lesser evil, very commonly in fact.

We need to wake up from a thought that lasts too long.

Open your heart. Don't be spiteful.

If you can start with effort then you have a chance.

I wasn't interested in novelty. I was looking for good drama.