Ever since 9/11, I found myself interested in chronicling the war and the war on terror and the way that this giant machinery was affecting individuals.

I actually think every war movie is an antiwar movie in its own way - with the exception of some of the propaganda movies.

So to be standing here, this was really, truly, honestly never part of anything we even imagined in our wildest dreams.

For better or worse, most of my writing life has been about people that work behind the scenes. I'm interested in finding extraordinary moments in otherwise normal people.

The fact is that war films, by their very nature, are pitched at a high dramatic range.

I write on a computer, on a laptop or whatever.

You're trying to dramatize events to tell a story most effectively. That doesn't mean the events aren't true, it just means you're making them as dramatic as you possibly can.

I think as a filmmaker you try not to have any expectations other than that the film have a fairly substantial beginning, middle and end.

I suppose I'll have to add the force of gravity to my list of enemies.

WORSHIP LEADERSHIP.Mere talents does not give glory to God but a humble heart.

Michael had always thought that seeing ghosts was stressful. Those wandering spirits were nothing compared to whatever women had going through their heads at all odd hours of the day.

For me, the showbiz memoir is uninteresting - you want to tell people something they don't know about.

[Bernie] Sanders tapped into that [trade issues]; that was part of his support. And then when he didn't make it, some of those Sanders people went to [Donald] Trump.

Keep a little fire burning; however small, however hidden.

The irony of man's condition is that the deepest need is to be free of the anxiety of death and annihilation; but it is life itself which awakens it, and so we must shrink from being fully alive.

If you run into a Buddha, then that energy field, the "rad" level is so high, it's incalculable. Their effect on an individual is for many, many, many, many, many, many lifetimes.

One of my favorite people is Gypsy Rose Lee. She bears out the Biblical promise that he who has, gets. And I hope she gets a lot more.

I'll have pot in my home for guests - I'm polite! - but I don't sit around and smoke by myself, ever. Not like I did when I was young.