Ben Karlin is a friend of mine and was a writer on 'The Daily Show.' He's just put out a book and asked a bunch of writers from various disciplines to contribute. It was called 'Things I've Learned from Women Who've Dumped Me,' and of course I agreed, and then I actually had to sit down and write it. God, writing fiction is terrifying.
Whenever you're telling a story about true-life events and about real people, there's a tremendous responsibility-slash-burden to get it right.
There's a bit more of a safe distance when you're making a narrative movie, a bit more perspective. Audiences can separate themselves from the harsh reality of the facts a little bit more and think: 'Okay, how do I consider this?'
I just try to keep going and work on projects that are exciting to me, with people I respect and enjoy and want to work with. That takes me in different directions sometimes, but it's all been a pretty good ride.
A lot of times, I'll resist the temptation to visually define a movie until, one, I really understand just what the movie's about, and two, until I start talking to my cinematographer.
It was such a joy to be an actor on 'The Wire.'
With docs, there's often a very direct communication between the filmmaker and the audience. With narrative movies, we leave it a little bit more open.
Taking chances is my job; some will connect and some won't, and certain films find their audiences in different ways. I think 'Spotlight' probably is a better movie because of 'The Cobbler.' You learn with every movie you make: you learn from your mistakes, and you learn from your achievements, and I really do have that approach to filmmaking.
I think when you're dealing with faith, you want to be as responsible and sensitive to the material as you can.
I'm a pretty well-read person. I read my paper every morning.
The passion and knowledge of journalism as storytelling is incredibly infectious.
Ultimately, as an actor, it comes down to committing to the text in the script.
I loved acting, and then acting led to writing, and writing led to directing, and directing lead to five movies, and I feel like the luckiest guy in the world.
Some people shy around 'The Cobbler.' 'The Cobbler' will always be a very special film to me. I've had a lot of wonderful response from 'The Cobbler.'
