I’d like to do a lot of different stuff. I think it’s important as a creative person to keep challenging yourself and keep doing new stuff. If you end up trying to repeat yourself it’s...

Animators have to live life 24 times as long as we do – every 24 frames of a second.

I know some people that have gone through serious struggles. People that were close to me, and I’ve seen some terrible things about people who lose it. So I think that type of pain is...

It would be nice to make a movie that other people want to make, because every one of these movies, I basically have to find the only company in the world that’s willing to make...

I couldn’t sleep one night and I was sitting in my office and I realized that I was an independent filmmaker.

I’ve always wanted to introduce hip-hop filmmaking to film. There’s hip-hop art, dance, music, but there really isn’t hip-hop film. So I was trying to do that.

I think it’s my nature to try and make original content, and that’s what I’ve done, is just try and approach things in an original way, and do things differently.

Right after I did ‘The Fountain,’ I wanted to go make a documentary or something that was less constructed – more natural. I was searching for a project, and sniffing around, ‘The Wrestler’ fit right...

Turning 30 was when my parents both got cancer and were fighting it and beat it, but their mortality started to get to me. Everything wasn’t as hunky-dory like it was.

As filmmakers, we can show where a person’s mind goes, as opposed to theater, which is more to sit back and watch it.

If you ask any person on this crew what they think of Hugh Jackman they’ll admit they’ve never seen anything like it. I’ll give him an emotional note and he’ll hit it every time.

There’s always been a lot of pressure and tension on the line. If ‘Pi’ didn’t work out, I have no idea what my career would be. I don’t think I would have gotten another shot...

I hope that Requiem is better than Pi. I hope that Pi is better than my student films, and I’m hoping that I’m getting better as I get older.

I grew up in a family with two very strong women, my mother and my older sister, and they were big influences on my life. I’ve spent a life loving women, and studying them as...

These wrestlers aren’t organized. They have no union, no pension and no insurance. You meet wrestler after wrestler who sold out Madison Square Garden ten years ago, basically running on fumes today. There’s a lot...

I was a TV junkie as a kid. I am the Sesame Street generation.

I think video games and that stuff should be as violent as possible, but age-appropriate. It should be realistic. When it’s not realistic you run into kids running around shooting people and not realizing the...

Classical scores go up and down; they’re kind of hysterical in a way. And movie scores are much more – they just drive and move forward, and they build and can’t go up and down...

‘Angel Heart’ was one of my favorite films.

I had some big ups and downs when I was in my 20s and the one thing I learned was, no matter how low it gets, something good will come along – something always comes...

I spent about a year and a half doing technical post work on ‘The Fountain’. Although I do like the process, I think my favorite part of filmmaking is the actors.

At the end of Requiem all I wanted to do was get a DV camera and just do a small film. But then the hunger comes back.

Now there is so much expertise and brainpower it’s hard to be at the cutting edge of what’s cool and not do something that’s totally geeky.

You hear stories about directors using manipulation to get actors to do certain things, but I think when you’re working with professional actors, it’s all about trust. They can do anything you want, it’s just...

I only want to work with actors that really get it and make it work. I didn’t want it to be a star-driven thing anymore.

I think it’s important as a filmmaker, as any person working in the arts, that you’ve got to try new stuff and challenge yourself and take chances.

Casting ethnic characters is a very hard thing to do, but it’s important. It’s also interesting.

Izzi: Remember Moses Morales? Tom Verde: Who? Izzi: The Mayan guide I told you about. Tom Verde: From your trip. Izzi: Yeah. The last night I was with him, he told me about his father,...

I’m not a comic book guy at all.

Comic books and graphic novels are a great medium. It’s incredibly underused.

I’m Godless. I’ve had to make my God, and my God is narrative filmmaking.

I’m Godless. And so I’ve had to make my God, and my God is narrative filmmaking, which is — ultimately what my God becomes, which is what my mantra becomes, is the theme.

I’ve spent a life loving women and studying them as much as I can, or am allowed to.

To me, watching a movie is like going to an amusement park. My worst fear is making a film that people don’t think is a good ride.

When I go to movies I generally want to be taken to another world.

I try to live my life where I end up at a point where I have no regrets. So I try to choose the road that I have the most passion on because then you...

I don’t make films that are easy to market, unfortunately. I think that ‘Pi’ was the easiest one, because we had that symbol to stick up everywhere, so that was a good gimmick, and created...

I wasn’t a big fan of social anthropology. And, luckily, that created room for me to work in visual arts because I sort of ignored my requirements. I think I was attracted to social anthropology...