I love Hitchcock movies. I took a Hitchcock class in college, so I saw all his movies. I wrote papers on his movies.

The scares are the easier part of scary movies. The hard part of scary movies is what leads up to the scares.

I think good suspense and horror is really about creating situations that are relatable, and throwing a wrench in it and watching how people respond to it.

I think the location is almost as important as casting the leads of the movie. The location on The Purge was crucial to that movie working.

My easiest judgment for a script is 'do I want to keep reading it?'

One thing I am very strict about is that I don't like spending a lot of money on movies because the more money you spend I think the worse that they get.

Let's keep making inexpensive movies.

I found that a lot of people ridiculed contemporary art. I decided I wanted to be involved in art everybody could understand.

For some reason, people value being scared less than they value laughing.

I love musicals. I love horror movies and I love art movies.

You can't be a creative person and not fall in love with everything. Every movie I've made there's a complicated, twisted love affair with.

Of course love is never earned. It is a grace we give one another. Anything we need to earn is only approval.

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion.

I was so nervous to turn 40, but the last year and a half has been the most fun I have ever had.

People don't eat in the long run - they eat every day.

I'm most comfortable on stage.

So much of literary sci-fi is about creating worlds that are rich and detailed and make sense at a social level. We'll create a world for people and then later present a narrative in that world.

If you follow someone else's way, you are not going to realize your potential.

I like to crack the jokes now and again, but it's only because I struggle with math.

Nihilism has no substance. There is no such thing as nothingness, and zero does not exist. Everything is something. Nothing is nothing.