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Making movies is a way of understanding myself and the world.

Cinema is a territory. It exists outside of movies. It's a place I live in. It's a way of seeing things, of experiencing life. But making films, that's supposed to be a profession.

When you're making a film all by yourself, that requires you to have quite a bit of a point of view in order for anything to get done.

I think films have to reach people and really grab them. That's what I hope to do when I make a film - to get under your skin and really make you think about something, and have a transporting time that takes you somewhere.

When you work so hard on making a film, it's all worthwhile when you get to experience seeing that film with an audience who thoroughly enjoy it and react to the movie.

Film has to be reflecting the world that we live in, and that's all you want to be a part of. Actors inhabit the same planet as everyone else. It's a weird thing that happens when you're an actor because people hold you up because you somehow embody in parts groups of people or people's hopes or something.

Making movies has become such a golden ring, and it's all such a big business, that the rewards system has gotten totally out of whack. Suddenly, you're treated in a manner befitting someone who is actually an important person.

In the end of the day, you are human. Film is a job which is not an individual job; you have tons and tons of people behind you - you have a whole crew of people working. But, an actor is the face of a film, so you get all of the good things, but you get the bad things, also.

At the end of the day, it is about working in a good film. It's the films that you leave behind that matter.

With every film, we form a small little world for a period of time. Everybody is close, and then one fine day everything is over. That can throw you off. So you have to learn to take things in your stride and not get too emotional about people or situations.