There’s always the standard six people you can hire that have played all these villains in Hollywood. Instinctively, when they come on screen, you know what’s going to happen. You don’t know the story, but you know what they do.
If you look at the best-seller list for American fiction, they’re all sequels to detective stories or stories about hunting serial killers. That’s what’s called American fiction these days.
I’m a big consumer of news and I have my six newspaper sites booked. And what I like bout Twitter is it’s almost, it allows me to make a comment about something that’s just on my mind.
Well, you know, with every character, if you’re going to expose yourself, you’ve got to figure out every detail that you’re going to play. So there’s no character that you can just go put on his shirt and be fully prepared.
You know, I became a director out of necessity. I was writing comedies, and I couldn’t find anybody to deliver it correctly.
It’s interesting when you’re part of a group – the Jews, to be exact – that the world has had such problems with.
When I went to acting school, the kids that got the best grades were the kids that could cry on cue. But it didn’t really translate into careers for any of them, because the external is the easy part.
One of the things I like about a character: I always think it’s fascinating when a character can turn on a dime and go from one emotion to another. I like watching that.
You never do a movie and not want it to work. You accept whatever it is. You have to, but nobody in their right mind would not want the movie to be getting talked about at the end of the year.
Being a screenwriter in Hollywood is like being a eunuch at an orgy. Worse, actually, at least the eunuch is allowed to watch.
Starting to drink now in preparation for New Years. No more last minute stuff like Christmas.
Art and resistance are great together. That’s what art’s made for. Look at Vincent van Gogh: He didn’t cut off his ear because he was selling well.
My mother was supportive without knowing it. Deep down she wanted all the right things, she just didn’t see the world like I did, and she’s not supposed to.
In the beginning of any career, in every job, people are always forcing you to the middle.
I’m not a person who I ever thought would do well with divorce. Not that it can’t happen. I just didn’t want that. So I waited a long time to meet the right person. Then I finally met someone that I was willing to be divorced from.
Acceptance is going to a restaurant where the salad’s not great, but the steak is fine.
I got so good at writing to a budget, my brain was restricting myself. I’d write, It’s a stormy night. Then I’d cross out stormy. I’d write: It’s a calm night. Then I’d cross out night. It’s noon. Because you know how much night costs. You know how much rain costs. Nothing comes free in movies.
The biggest waste of brainpower is to want to change something that’s not changeable.
I’ve never been disappointed, because I’ve never given somebody I liked that much power.
I don’t experience basic human emotions. It’s not my thing.