I'm always aware of who my core audiences are and I serve that niche.
Edward Burns
I spent four months in Prague in these blue rooms reacting to nothing and you basically place your faith in the hands of the director and the special effects co-coordinator and you keep your fingers crossed and hope that the creatures look really scary.
You know, I've certainly gone through periods, once I got into this business, where I tried to adopt maybe a more sophisticated style, 'cause they give you all these free clothes.
I mean the cool thing about the movies is that you get to try on these different personalities and different styles.
The way I see it, when I go out as an actor, it should be on a type of film I'm never going to do as a director.
I was a kid who went to film school and fell into acting.
Spielberg gave us three takes before saying anything to us. Since then, I do that, three takes, to let the actors find their rhythm.
When I was 25 years old and had no money - and didn't know how to make movies and had no experience - I was able to get $25,000 together, and that film was 'The Brothers McMullen.'
When you work with a DeNiro or Hoffman, they love what they do so much that there's never any competitive vibe. It's more about how do we do this thing together.
I am a big fan of the old Howard Hawks films from the 30s and 40s, I was a big Hepburn and Tracey fan for a while and Woody Allen films that are a very different kind of romantic comedy.
I'm betting that in two years I'll be talking to you about a film that I shot on an iPhone. It's absolutely coming, I have no doubt in my mind.
'Brothers McMullen' would not be picked up for theatrical distribution now.
I suffer from Irish-Catholic guilt. Guilt is a good reality check. It keeps that 'do what makes you happy' thing in check.
The con movie is a little bit different where maybe we tell you what we're going to do but it never goes down the way you expect because there's so much double-crossing and cheats and lies going on along the whole way.
The stigma of the straight-to-DVD thing is over.
People that went to art house theatre have more options, I used to go, but now think any movie can be delivered in a red envelope three months after it's released so why not watch it on my flat screen in the comfort of home.
It's so hard to raise money for independent films and the fact of the matter is that the bigger my star or whatever is, as a result of doing bigger pictures, the easier it is for me to get money for my own projects.
So you got the cool New Yorkers, and then there are the less-than-cool New Yorkers.
I feel Irish-Americans are the forgotten minority group. Nobody else is making films about them.
Newlyweds shooting budget: 5k for actors, 2k insurance, 2k food and drink. 9k in the can. We only shot 12 days. That's how to make an independent film.
You make a movie for 9k for the freedom it allows you.
And at no point did making 'Brothers McMullen' feel like work or hardship. It was really just a matter of 11 days of fun over the course of 8 months.
Look: You're not gonna become a millionaire doing this, but that was never the point. And I think a lot of people in the indie film business kind of took their eye off of that.
Quite honestly, it's too tough to get your movies made and then also to get out there and sell them.
I'd been offered TV series over the years and never had any interest in doing television. I'm not a TV guy.
But the longer I'm in the business, you see a lot of times these screenplays have been rewritten 5 times and you're not really offending an author.
Actors are con men and con men are actors.
Woody Allen would go for seven years without a movie and then make one that makes no money.
It is a juggling act and I have been in it for 12 years now, which is about 11 years longer than I thought I would be, and then the priority there is thinking how can I stay somewhat irrelevant so that you can continue to survive and can continue to work and put yourself in a position to get to do the work you are truly passionate about.
But at a certain point, you have to take your influence and find your own voice if you want to become a relevant artist.
Maybe I should have taken a few chances. That's not to say I want to go make 'Star Wars', but I need to shift my career into the studio world. That's where my head was at when I thought of the original plot.
That's my advice for indie filmmakers: Marry a supermodel.
Well, honestly, the films I personally like to go see are smaller, more character-driven pieces, so that's why the movies I've made have been smaller, more character-driven movies.
Well, for one thing, you know my dad was a cop.
