It's more like can I build a group of characters and can I tell some universal truths that feel real and aren't formulaic in the spirit of filmmakers gone by who've told American stories that were personal and universal as well.

Well it kind of is project to project because as a writer I think you always write to some degree about things that you know or things that happened - but my favourite filmmakers, my favourite movies of theirs tend to be the personal movies.

Billy Wilder once told me, 'Make 'em personal,' ... 'But make 'em for the people.'

I want to tell authentic, real stories with real characters.

I don't think people are ever going to a place where they're like, 'I'm over stories about character and love.'

There are so many different themes and characters and worlds within the movie. Lo and behold, we find that the editing of all those little strains in a movie can be really difficult. I didn't want to start cutting out characters wholesale and savaging the many different performances. Over time, showing the movie became the only way to figure out how it was all rhythmically working.