My creative partner is a writer, and he’s got an executive producing credit on this film. We’ve made three films together and I would never underestimate the impact of a writer.

Look at Walter Huston in The Devil and Daniel Webster: It’s an incredible performance.

Ray Charles, in his own way, it’s like at the beginning, Ray Charles changed American music, not once but twice.

The director’s job should give you a sense of music without drawing attention to itself.

Well I don’t think I’ve scored my life exclusively to Ray Charles.

This devil loves mankind because men are going to always make the choice that will send him into ascendancy. He’s been winning the game for a long time.

It’s much easier to work with an unknown.

I love actors and I understand what has to happen within a scene. Any scene is an acting scene and actors never act alone, so there has to be an interchange. If it’s a dialog scene, if it’s a love scene, it doesn’t matter because you need to establish a situation.

You’d be surprised how many movie stars still care about the work.

But, unfortunately, sometimes that affirmation creates a sense that you deserve special treatment and recognition in areas where you’re not so talented.