“It never made sense to me that someone would achieve any kind of success in show business, only to become a jerk.”

“No matter how dark things may get in a story, I feel it's the responsibility of the storyteller to leave the audience with at least a shred of hope.”

“A lot of times, we're just sold these movies that are really cynically conceived and marketed, and they just want you there opening weekend, before everybody finds out it's not so good.”

“I actually have a thing about proper nouns. They clang on my ear in a weird way when I hear them dropped into movies.”

“I learned a lesson which I didn't heed: Don't put yourself in your movies. It's too much.”

“I like movies that are about real people in real time with real problems.”

“When I go to movies and I love the movie, it's because it feels like it articulated something about how we're living now, and also gives me some insight into my own life. I feel actually altered after having seen it.”