I loved watching documentaries and had wanted to try making one for years - I'd just put it off as other opportunities arose. But I felt like time was running out for me if I wanted to do it.

At a certain point, you have to stop being precious with your material and be cruel and harsh and judgmental.

I've always been curious in why different people believe the things they do and do the things they do - in the different ways that people live.

I think this is one of those issues where the deeper you dig, the murkier it gets - and everyone who has spent a lot of time thinking about these issues.

Balancing the complex point of view in the edit room was mostly a matter of challenging ourselves to keep digging deeper.

I don't think that any law enforcement got in trouble for the event in Eugene where police sprayed the tree-sitters who were protesting the cutting of the trees for the parking garage.

I think if the extremists were happy with my films, I'd start to worry.

I was surprised to see how much the mainstream environmental movement hates the ELF.

My wife runs a non-profit that gives legal information online to victims of domestic violence.

Boredom and ineffective attempts to escape tedium are the perpetual lot of humankind.

Everyday feels the same and yet I crave sameness.Part of me wants to run away and be free.I feel trapped in my life I've created to protect myself.

I spend a great deal of time with the President. We have a very close, personal, loyal relationship. I'm not, as they say, a potted plant in these meetings.

... it's always interesting when one doesn't see. If you don't see what a thing means, you must be looking at it wrong way round.

We've been around long enough and have been to enough award shows to know that it is easy to lose to Phil Collins at any time.

Not only does political coverage often lose the signal—it frequently accentuates the noise.

My hope for America and the activists is that they never, ever go back to sleep, and they keep fighting for social justice, equality, and decency.

The important thing is to pull yourself up by your own hair to turn yourself inside out and see the whole world with fresh eyes.

Goalkeepers need an element of insanity.

It is doubtless a vice to turn one's eyes inward too much, but I am my own comedy and tragedy.