I don’t believe in putting in music as a band aid to get you over some rough parts or bad film making. If it’s there it’s got to add to it or take it to another level.
When I make a movie, I want it to be everything to me; like I would die for it.
If the film is nominated for awards, and even if it wins them, it doesn’t make the movie any better, just as if it’s ignored that doesn’t make the movie any worse.
It’s nice to get invited to the parties and to be able to hobnob and celebrate a job well done with your colleagues.
If I’m doing my job right, then I’m not writing the dialogue; the characters are saying the dialogue, and I’m just jotting it down.
I do like putting scenario and story first, and I actually like masking whatever I want to say in the guise of genre.
I’m not saying it’s a bad thing to do, but when you try to deal with prescient themes in the present, that is what you’re doing.
I surprised myself, that I was in the tissue of the character enough, that I could actually come up with something that I didn’t actually feel or didn’t believe.
Everybody always talks about the science fiction genre, in particular, which always makes me think about people in spaceships. I can appreciate that, but that’s not really where I think my dramatist aspect lies.
Just because I was at an anti-police brutality protest, doesn’t mean I’m anti-police. We want justice, but stop shooting unarmed people.
One of the things about writing a novel is you can do it any way you want. It’s your voice that’s important and I see absolutely no reason why a screenplay can’t be the same. It makes it a hell of a lot easier when you’re the writer and the director.
I’m a human being with a conscience, and when I see murder, I cannot stand by, and I have to call the murdered the murdered, and I have to call the murderers the murderers.
I laugh all the time. I’m an easy laugher. You can find me on any set, because I’m always laughing.
In real life there are no bad guys. Everybody just has their own perspective.
The way I write is really like putting one foot in front of the other. I really let the characters do most of the work, they start talking and they just lead the way.
I am a writer, I deal in words. There is no word that should stay in word jail, every word is completely free. There is no word that is worse than another word. It’s all language, it’s all communication.
I’m very much a man of the moment. I can think about an idea for a year, two years, even four years all right, but what ever is going on with me the moment I write is gonna work it’s way into the piece.
To me, truth is the big thing. Constantly you’re writing something and you get to a place where your characters could go this way or that and I just can’t lie. The characters have gotta be true to themselves.
I try not to get analytical in the writing process. I try to just kind of keep the flow from my brain to my hand as far as the pen is concerned and go with the moment and go with my guts.
Emotion will always win over coolness and cleverness. It’s when a scene works emotionally and it’s cool and clever, then it’s great. That’s what you want.