I don’t think writers should write about answers. I think writers should write about questions.
As a general rule, I don’t plan to travel with my Oscars, but we may have to make an exception.
Always write from your gut, no matter what the project is.
We never did just one take. Multiple takes. Many. I did a bunch. Sometimes I do one take. Sometimes I did 20.
What I love about writing is the contradictions we all embody as human beings.
Usually the characters are where I start. Then I continually ask myself, ‘What’s the worst thing that could happen to this character?’
I like taking genres and subverting them. I did that with In the Valley of Elah. I said, Okay, this is just a murder mystery. Relax. And then, two thirds of the way through, I broke every convention of a murder mystery.
I miss my mother very, very much.
I like to write about things about which I have no answers, questions that trouble me. These things trouble me.
We crash into each other just so we can feel something.
I don’t think it’s the job of filmmakers to give anybody answers. I do think, though, that a good film makes you ask questions of yourself as you leave the theatre.