I tell the actors that the biggest gift they can give me is to fail. And that the second gift they can give me is to surprise me.

You can never maintain just pure happiness. In my life, I want full emotion. I want equal parts happiness and sadness.

When I made my student film, a feature, nobody wanted to talk to me and I was, like, in the desert for 12 years.

Yeah as the director I consider myself to be the coach, and my actors are my players. So I have to show them how committed I am, but I also want to lead by example. I think whenever you make a film, you start out alone, and then slowly start - you have to be a magnet. You have to attract people to you, to the project.

A lawyer actually has to see all sides of a situation. Lawyers actually might be the most understanding human beings.