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I wanted 'Southland' to feel immediate, like a ride-along, and to make it the closest thing possible to a cop reality show. We've got real cops out there every day. A lot of times we'll say, 'You guys just do what you normally do and we'll film it.'

If you're playing a cop in a modern film, you don't have to walk with your spine straight up and bow before a fight. There's a lot of free form of expressing yourself as an actor.

We don't typically use music. We don't manipulate our audience into what we think it should feel. We tell the truth. That's 'Southland' Style'... and I love it!

Cops on the beat can stop problems before the damage spreads.

When Joseph Wambaugh writes about the LAPD, you listen because you know he knows the scene. Lots of people write cop novels, but they don't have that authenticity.

What I've learned about acting is that it needs to be mysterious. If you overthink how a beat needs to be played, it can trip you up.

The worst of the action films are the ones where everything is one shout from beginning to finish. And there's no differentiation between beats, like small or big, or quiet or expansive. It's all just one loud shout.

The one thing that frustrates me more than anything else is that no studio has ever told me to tone down violence. They only ask you to make it more presentable.

People use location as a language in films, and Quentin uses action as a language in his films. There's really not a lot of violence. It's more of an emotional beat than it is a physical beat.

It all has to do with the director, the captain of the ship. He sets the pace, the mood. If the director is quiet, the set is quiet. If the director is loud, then everybody has to be louder to be heard.