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I would say that when I came into this chapter of my filmmaking career, starting with 'The Fighter,' there was this sense that you have to go from your instincts and you have to go from your gut, and you have to not hesitate and you have to not hedge.

Films are not the sole area in my life. Films are a passion. But it's not like I'll die if I don't get another movie. I'll grow, I'll flourish, I'll learn something new, but I'll always do something that I like. If I get the right film, I'll do it. I will not compromise for anything else.

I know I'm really good at writing for the theater. I can deny it all I want. Other people can fight me on it. It doesn't really matter. It's the thing I happen to know is my gift.

When I see a role I want, I fight for it.

The business of Hollywood, if you don't have other things going on, it will eat you up and spit you out... If you take what those people and that social structure think of you - if you let it govern your life - you might as well just kill yourself.

I like to go from mainstream movies to more artsy films. I don't sign on for the money. Maybe I should, but I don't. There's always a good reason for doing something.

It sounds so dramatic, but I'll say it: Hollywood just doesn't know what to do with me. And it's not for lack of trying.

When I sit down to write, I don't think, 'OK, what is the next David O. Russell film I can write, or what is Harvey Weinstein going to want to buy?' Or even, 'What are filmgoers going to want.' I try to think, tell a good story. Just do what you do.

The way I write is very much without kind of a goal. I have something I'm interested in and then I decide I'm going to explore it. I don't know where the characters are going to go, I don't know what the movie is going to do or what the screenplay is going to do. For me, that's the way to keep it alive.