I grew up thinking there was something called 'independent film,' which I wouldn't necessarily have had access to if there wasn't Sundance.
I have been very influenced by the director Maurice Pialat, who I continue to be in conversation and conflict with and get inspiration from.
I don't think I'd ever start making a film until I had both the intimacy with the subject and the distance to make it live in a certain way.
I conveniently was not accepted to film school, which I applied to in 1987, and so I decided I would become a filmmaker instead of a student.
Sometimes it's literally just a feeling that you get that somebody is more interested than someone else; and they may both say they're interested, but you get a feeling.
It's like your children talking about holidays, you find they have a quite different memory of it from you. Perhaps everything is not how it is, but how it's remembered.
But I always wanted my characters to be more than cyphers for the failings of their world. And I never had to look too hard to find a part of myself in them.
Intellectualism came very late to America. That's why Americans are so proud of it. I found very few real intellectuals in America. But there are so many pseudo-intellectuals.
When things aren't working out for people, the end of the world seems like an easy way to wipe the slate clean.
I'm from Wisconsin; well, that's where I went to school from, like, sixth grade till I graduated high school.
I'm the fifth generation of Seventh Day Adventists and the youngest of four brothers. When I was still very small, we formed a gospel quartet.
I listen to Emmylou Harris. She's my favorite. I don't know why, but I just feel more creative with her playing.
I don't think Will does get upstaged because his reaction is always funnier than what is actually happening. That is also the reason Tommy is funnier than Will.
If I'd been offered 'Spider-Man,' I probably would have done it. I don't think it's bad to go and do those things.
The only genre I have any problem with is musicals, but that's just my own tastes it's nothing to do with the films.
When you feel an audience engaged and surprised and enthusiastic, reacting to what you've planned, that is the reward. It's better than the Emmys.
You know, Arabs are critical of United States foreign policy, but they also associate the U.S. with democratic principles and opportunity.
I think everybody's had that feeling of sitting in a theater, in a dark room, with other strangers, watching a very powerful film, and they felt that feeling of transformation.
Talking to actors is the same as talking to any other artists; it's getting into the moment for them, and making sure they can lose themselves in the performance!
People can't stand it when you deal with issues of race and class, and also sometimes the church, and you give a perspective that flushes out hypocrisy.
I have to be clear with myself and very conscious of what I am trying to say. Misunderstandings will always take place; it's unavoidable.
