I'm interested in people forging their realities.
I remember when I made 'A Scanner Darkly,' going, 'I hope people see it in theater - but I think it's going to be seen in someone's room at two in the morning.' It's that kind of movie. And I would have loved if it had been available on multiple formats at the moment it opened.
I guess I was just always one of those guys who asked those fundamental questions: 'Who am I? What's this for? Why? What does this mean? Is this real?' All these pretty basic questions. I like making movies about people who are self-conscious in that way, and are trying to feel their way through the world.
I guess I don't have a grandiose view of the world in general, and I never believe it when someone else has a grandiose moment.
It's luck that one thing works out and one doesn't, it's sort of happenstance.
Anything that confirms for me the transitory nature of reality isn't bad. It's a good lesson in human hubris.
The human psyche creates structure. We all go through our lives like, 'Oh! And then I moved here.' We're pattern-seeking, structure-producing machines.
'The Newton Boys' was the one time I've made a film with really active characters who weren't at all self-reflexive and just plowed through their lives. There's a part of everyone that's like that. We have a biological imperative to keep living, keep moving forward... We have no choice.
I grew up in a little town in east Texas where it was really not on the table to question certain things like whether you should eat meat or not.
I always had that long-term vision. Even getting going with cinema, knowing it was such a long road to be able to make films, but I always had a long term. Whenever I was starting out, I had that patience.
The natural phenomenon of the universe is so mind-blowing, but you have to know about it. You have to be curious. You've got to find it on your own. If you're lucky, you do.
No one is asking what happened to all the homeless. No one cares, because it's easier to get on the subway and not be accosted.
I worked offshore as an oil worker for a couple of years.
As you get older, you want less from the world; you just want to experience it. Any barriers to feeling emotions get dismantled. And ordinary things become beautifully poetic.
I was dating girls who were actresses, and that was fun, so I took a playwriting class. But that was short-lived. That was one year. Around that time, I was seeing movies that were making me think in terms of images.
Plots are artificial. Does your life have a plot? It has characters. There is a narrative. There's a lot of story, a lot of character. But plot? Eh, no.
It was always kind of sad when your favorite punk rockers, like Jello Biafra or someone, would say they hate something you like. It was, 'Oh, I thought we were on the same page.'
The people you live with at college, those first roommates often are people you're still friends with the rest of your life.
Are any of us self-taught? It just means I didn't go to school for it. But you do have teachers. You have mentors.
I think you get in trouble if you make experimental big studio films.
