We all have these tendencies in us that could go this way or that. I think that's the real key in writing. To look at a character without judgment.
We give you characters we'd feel very comfortable judging, and then go: 'Oh yeah? Watch this'.
I loved American filmmakers when I was growing up. I didn't get to film school or anything. I was a very bad student. I just devoured film, but there was a point in my teens when I started to run a little film society.
I don't know how much credit I can take for 'Walker, Texas Ranger,' because I only worked on it for three weeks. I re-wrote the pilot, and then my name was on it forever.
I just figure if you have a modicum of celebrity, you need to use it, and you need to use it for more things than just promoting yourself or your film or your image or your product.
I made a very good living as a bad writer. I wrote a lot of comedies, 'Diff'rent Strokes,' 'Facts of Life,' while all my friends were doing the good shows, like 'Cheers,' but I loved it because I got to be a working writer in Hollywood.
Even in a comedy, you have to make people feel. You have to put your hand inside their soul and twist out their heart.
I don't pay much attention to the press. My films always get good reviews and bad reviews. I just try to make the best film I can.
You have to have empathy, knowledge and compassion for your characters if you're a writer.
There's nothing more painful than writing.
The great majority of Scientologists I know are good people who are genuinely interested in improving conditions on this planet and helping others.
Every 10 years, I know less about love and relationships. The smarter I get, the less I know.
I like taking genres and subverting them. I did that with 'In the Valley of Elah.' I said, 'Okay, this is just a murder mystery. Relax.' And then, two thirds of the way through, I broke every convention of a murder mystery.
I try not to think of actors as I'm writing because I think you do them a disservice by writing for things they've already done.
I just love actors, and I've always loved actors. I empathize with their job. Everyone thinks it's easy, and it ain't. To be that vulnerable and brave on camera is tough. The more they reveal themselves, the more we love them, but there's a lot of truth in what they're showing.
I have so many questions about love. How do you win at it? Especially if you're in a relationship with an impossible person? What if you believe in someone who's completely untrustworthy, who at their core can't even believe in themselves?
My kids paid the price for my career. We can say it's for our family, but it almost never is. It's about us. It's just some of us can pretend better than others.
I am really drawn to damaged characters, and I have a lot of sympathy for them. Making those complicated characters empathetic is something to strive for. It's too easy to create a good guy or a good girl.
Even a modicum of celebrity is hard to deal with. You see it with actors and directors all the time.
I'm such an antsy type of person. I can't write in a room without other people around. I write in coffee shops.
