There is a common theme, though, in the stories I have told, which are usually associations of characters or families that are formed outside of a family circle.

Even if you try to copy a film shot by shot, you still can't. It's still your own film.

I used to take photographs just to remember people.

For all the boredom the straight life brings, it's not too bad.

I was once a shameless, full-time dope fiend.

Now the music industry is sort of like a Craigslist venture, right? Where you're making your own records and selling them online.

I'm normally drawn to something I haven't done and seen before.

The area of teenage life is not necessarily rarefied; we've all gone through that period. It's not as rarefied as a western or a space adventure or a gangster film, but it has its own dynamic.

Sometimes getting upset with yourself is necessary when you face the truth.

Modern-day cinema takes the form of a sermon. You don't get to think, you only get to receive information.

I have my ideas of what a good documentary is, but drama is a different animal because you're arranging everything.

If only I could rest for a time in quiet pain and awaken new and willing. He is looking forward and I am inward.

Up from the ashes come the roses of success.

Bright colours in the west, giant butterflies dancing as night crept like a cripple toward the east.

I've always been exactly who I am on TV. I'm not playing a role.

Nuclear holocaust would be like no other.

You do not get what you want. You get what you negotiate.

Literary influences are harder for me to point to, because mostly it's a mulch of all of my past reading.

I'm going to do what I do, even more exaggerated. This is my attitude always. I don't betray myself at all.

Use anger as a wake-up call to unmet needs.

If I knew anything about what people wanted and was popular, I'd still be writing for 'Saturday Night Live'. I can only write what I want, and hopefully people will like it.