I'm from the 'less is more' school. I had to be in the 'more is more' zone with 'Dallas Buyers Club', so I was out of my comfort zone, but I had to trust that.

I respect the British a lot - their history, their past, their culture. I think it's beautiful, what they have with the monarchy.

I'm always aiming for some magic in films if I can find a mystical quality either in a song or in a moment or a character's intention.

There's a way of filming where you can get rid of the vanity and of trying to make something beautiful.

When I do a mix tape for my kids, for my friends, for my lover, I meticulously choose the tracks, and it's beautiful. And when they are alone they think of me - and when I am alone I think of them.

As a director, try to be humble and not to overdo it, not overcoverage and over-covering the scene.

You've got to trust your instincts, your judgment and trust the storytelling that came before and the quality of the acting with the emotion.

Just film what's there, trust what came before, one hour before, and make it easy.

I look back, and I've got a couple of films, and I'm happy.

I love those films where I feel the director's confidence - where he doesn't need to overdo it with the shots and the cuts.

In a career, when you hit 40 and you've done a lot of this and that, you want to try some new things. I feel like that as a director, too, from one film to the other.

Life is those moments when we forget to live but are too busy to enjoy.

Crap talk

Do me the kindness of at least scraping me from the bottom of your shoes.

Marisa starts to snoop. I might as well too. It's not often that I get to visit a water pellet company in a freaky refugee nation. -from Fireseed One

Pop music, disco music, and heavy metal music is about shutting out the tensions of life, putting it away.

Because of styles people are separated. Research your own experience, absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is essentially your own.

Strengthening local airports in Iowa is important for economic development and improving the quality of life our rural areas and urban communities

...I seem to want the things I can't have. Occasionally, when something is finally attainable, the chase appears to be over and the fire burns out.

I am wearied, as if I lacked a home to go to.

The accursed hunger for gold.