Sometimes identity can be your salvation. It can be liberating to find your place in the world, but at some point, identity can hold you back.

As a director, I try not to implement a way for working, for every single actor, across the board. I try to work with each one, on an individual basis.

As a person of color, I was just really tired of the fact that I wasn't seeing my story in the culture.

America is a different country, and it will forever be a different country, after the election of Donald Trump.

I love the art house, and when I say the art house, I don't just mean little, independent movies but movies that really aim to be about something and say something and I love those movies.

It is frustrating having to walk through America having to bob and weave people's impressions of me because they see a tall, black guy walking down the street. That is frustrating.

I love when scenes are intentionally and meticulously planned so we feel like this is a handcrafted scene that only works in this moment and this movie, and that's the way I approach my films.

Racism is wrong, racism is very dangerous.

If the characters [in a movie] aren't real, if their lives aren't realistic, if you call bullshit at any point in their journey, then the rest of it is invalid.

Unfortunately, 'post racism' is also a myth, like unicorns and black people who survive to the end of a horror movie.

Your life content reduces with employment

The proper governmental policy in a depression is strict laissez-faire, including stringent budget slashing, and coupled perhaps with positive encouragement for credit contraction.

If I pop everyone who calls me a diva then I'm going to spend the rest of my life in prison.

So is it just human nature to believe that things happen for a reason - to find some shred of meaning even in the worst experiences?

Understanding how DNA transmits all it knows about cancer, physics, dreaming and love will keep man searching for some time.

Learning presence is a stress buster.

To maken vertue of necessite.

'T is woman that seduces all mankind; By her we first were taught the wheedling arts.

When I'm writing I've been playing something for a couple of hours and I'm almost in a trance. At two or three in the morning you can actually see bits of inspiration floating about and grab them.