The 1857 massacre is so pertinent today, because people look at recent events worldwide that are born of religious fanaticism as if it is something new. They should know that 150 years ago it happened right here on American soil–Christopher Cain

My intention was not to encompass the entire black experience or create positive black images. All my characters have dichotomy and duality. All of them have hard time revealing their sensitivity. They all have soft insides and harder exteriors–writer-director John Singleton

It's desire that makes the world go round. But I am against desire as lust alone, because for me that's a non-truth. For Lawrence, even when desire seems to come down to its most simple expression, there's something else going on. In the first scene where Constance sees Parkin bathing with his shirt off, it's not just sexual attraction, or even an aesthetic shock. It's both the shock of discovering that there are still bodies in this world, when she was feeling dispossessed of one; and a mimetic desire, the desire to be that body in that it tells of happy solitude in the heart of the forest. Desire can never be reduced to a simple drive.

James Gray's reaction to his “big break” with his feature debut was at once arrogant and astonishing: “It's insulting. I don't even know what that means–getting a break–what it says is you got to do whatever you're doing by virtue of being in the right place at the right time. You make a movie because someone likes you. Is that getting a break I don't know.”

I was the first to sign on to Triple Theo‚Äîso I got dibs on “Interview,” which resonated with me the most. The original had so many elements that attracted me: the vivid characters, the tension and conflict, but also the cutting humor and surprise. I like it when the location becomes another character in the film, and the loft definitely takes on that role, in Theo‚Äôs version and in mine–Director Steve Buscemi.