[But the film] wasn't designed specifically to be a political statement, ... I didn't make the film as a protest.

[The screening ended with] more than polite applause, ... Well, Nick, I thought it would be pretty good, but I didn't expect to be moved.

If we had someone play McCarthy, people would have said, he is (portrayed as) too harsh or too evil and as a rat,

Some great woman is going to knock him off his feet,

that's what I'm waiting for.

When we saw the rough cut in May, I turned around and said, 'George, you got this one right,' ... That's the first newsroom I've recognized on the big screen. That's the first one I could look at and say, 'I've been there,' and had that feeling and that tension, that palm sweating, camaraderie, repartee -- all of that.