If you see me or Heath (Ledger) in a movie that you don’t like it’s because we made a bad decision, ... There’s no hiding behind, ‘Well, I needed the money. I needed to pay my rent.’

…Heath Ledger once said to me, ‘It’s built you up to knock you down and that’s all it is.

The fact that Terry was directing the movie sold it to me,

When I heard Ang Lee, Larry McMurtry, Heath Ledger, that's all I needed to know. Whether it's everyone's cup of tea or not, this is art.

And he should know! ... No, well, Terry had me take tango lessons to prepare for the movie just because I move like such a mook, you know, that he wanted me to be a little more of a dandy and so he thought if I danced that would happen.

The movie is really a fairy tale about the guys who wrote fairy tales. It's also an excuse for Terry to create an entire world, which is what he does so well. He has his wide-angle lenses and extravagant production design. His frames are so densely packed with information. He directs like no one else.