Yeah. And it was too much of what you shouldn’t be doing instead of what you should be doing. I get enraged when people start telling other people how to live their lives. It drives me mental.
I’m actually very snobbish about directors. I have to say no all the time. ‘No’ is the most powerful word in our business. You’ve got to protect yourself… To leave home, it’s got to be worth leaving. It’s got to be worth it.
I’ve always believed happiness is overrated, you know? It’s those difficult times that inform the next wonderful time, and it’s a series of trade-offs, of events, of wins and losses.
So much of making movies is about discovery on the day, what you’re figuring out. If you know everything going in, then it’s not worth doing – it’s already done. I’m interested in finding people who I think have a voice – and a very specific voice.
Most of the time is with the family. Most of the time, is all the time. When we work it’s a very intensive chunk of time. We work for 12 hours a day, 14 hours a day is common. And we’ll do that for a few months and then we get to relax a little bit.
I had a friend who worked at a hospice, and he said people in their final moments don’t discuss their successes, awards or what books they wrote or what they accomplished. They only talk about their loves and their regrets, and I think that’s very telling.
When I got untethered from the comfort of religion, it wasn’t a loss of faith for me, it was a discovery of self. I had faith that I’m capable enough to handle any situation. There’s peace in understanding that I have only one life, here and now, and that I’m responsible.
