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Before 'Whiplash,' I'd had a string of failed scripts. I'd pour my blood, sweat and tears into them, and no one would like them.

When you are in the eye of the storm, you are often not aware of the whiplash around you.

I remember when I first met Jason Reitman with the 'Whiplash' script; he quickly became a mentor figure who guided me through the process and also protected me and made sure that when it came time to actually make 'Whiplash,' I was able to make exactly the movie I wanted to make.

Society mends its wounds. And that's invariably true in all the tragedies, in the comedies as well. And certainly in the histories.

'Whiplash' scared me. I feel you should only do projects that scare you to some degree. I get motivated by those sorts of feelings.

Sad old blokes, I'm told, now dream of me with a whip in hand.

The whole thing was an actor's dream - getting a character that tickles you so much you can't wait to act as him.

I really love the idea of the poetically mad - the character that is imbued with the romantic madness. Like River from 'Firefly' or Drusilla from 'Buffy.' Someone dangerously unhinged, where you're really not sure they're going to be reliable minute-to-minute.