In 'Honeymoon in Vegas,' after Nicolas Cage tells his fiancee that he's given her away to pay for his gambling debts, she gets into a tizzy as if she were a 6-year-old. I couldn't believe it.

For me, the most exciting thing is that Jane Campion is a woman we can all really look up to. She doesn't have the body of work that some other directors do - no woman director does - but her work is so consistently original, wonderful, masterful.

As far as the gambling debts on there, not one cent was any type of sports betting. It's just something obviously I'm not proud of because it drags a lot of other people into this than I'd want. It's something I'm continuing to deal with.

I don't believe you ever get closure on anything. Things leave a permanent mark on you.

During the '90s, a lot of us in the indie film world were not making our money off our movies. We were screenwriters doing scripts for hire for studios.

Long after Salinger sent me away, I continued to believe his standards and expectations were the best ones.