Paul Thomas Anderson

“I am always looking for that nuance, that moment of truth, and you can't really do that fast.”

“So with 'There Will Be Blood,' I didn't even really feel like I was adapting a book. I was just desperate to find stuff to write.”

“I think my job is to try and be as honest as I can with what is in my mind and how I feel - I think that's what you're supposed to do, if you're a good writer. So I try to do that. I know I do that. I do do that.”

“I'm not really a Sundance baby, but they helped me so much I feel I have to acknowledge it.”

“The films that I love are very straightforward stories, like really old-fashioned stuff.”

“I don't think it's a director's job to peek behind the curtain too much.”

“Screenwriting is like ironing. You move forward a little bit and go back and smooth things out.”

“Clinton used to like to get out of the White House a lot. He would take night trips to McDonald's, and stuff like that. I think he wanted to get out of the house.”

“I don't want to be the angry guy.”

“I don't think the competition's so rough, within the majority of movies made in Hollywood.”

“But I'd be lying if I didn't say that every time you go to make a film, you're desperate to either do it better than you did it last time or to not repeat yourself.”

“I didn't have any desire I might have had 10 years ago to shoot every single word that I wrote.”

“To make a film, the final big collaborator that you have is the composer.”

“My dad was this sort of avant-garde guy who did all kinds of weird things. He was a true original and anybody who met him never forgot him.”

“Crazy is so hard to play, there's nothing you can really tell an actor.”

“It felt like the first thing, but when I first started out, I got a job adapting a book by Russell Banks called 'Rule Of The Bone.' I didn't do a very good job. I didn't really know what I was doing in general, let alone how to adapt a book.”

“Film school is a complete con, because the information is there if you want it.”

“I remember being taught in school that you would underline things that you liked. I remember just underlining everything as a kid, thinking, 'This has all gotta be important!' I would just underline the whole thing!”

“My older sister was at the cusp of new wave, and I had older brothers from my father's first marriage who were rock 'n' roll guys, so I was exposed to a lot of popular culture.”

“Well I'd really love to work with Robert De Niro, because he's still the most talented actor out there.”