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I come from a tradition where the writer writes a play for the actors, rather than for himself, and the dialogue is made to work onstage, so it needs actors to help shape it. So you never get a play right straightaway.

In every movie I do have a dialogue.

There is such a thing as my kind of actor, and how well they pull off my dialogue is a very, very important part of it.

Once you see the entertainment world from both sides, you really get a greater understanding of how it all operates. As an actor going into screenwriting, I was able to understand what type of dialogue feels natural and what an actor could actually say.

I treat any scene the same - dialogue, action - you're still creating something in character. It's all acting, fighting.

Actors don't need a lot of talk beyond the first few sentences. They may say they don't draw on their own life, but all actors do.

A lot of actors never talk to other actors about how they're doing things, or why. I think it's important to share the way you're thinking.

The pressure is always stepping on stage with actors who are just so well-established. It's a scary thing. I haven't been around the block that many times, especially not on big projects. Dialogue makes things easier. When you start bouncing dialogue off of other actors, it becomes comfortable; it becomes conversational.

I tend to get comfortable with the dialogue and find out who the person is in the script and try to hit that. People are sort of independent of their occupations and their pastimes. You don't play a politician or a fireman or a cowboy - you just play a person.