DITO MONTIEL

I have friends who have had PTSD, and you can get it from other things than war.

You make a movie, and if there's a red light flashing in the distance, everyone thinks that the director had a whole lot of money and a great idea that the red light means something. Then you say, 'Yeah, we couldn't afford to shut the red light off that was broken two blocks away.'

A story about my life should not be particularly interesting, but it is: it's just about me and some kids who didn't know how to talk to each other. It's personal but not autobiographical.

Life is tricky - you never know what's going to happen.

I could hold on to everything for the rest of my life. I don't make friends easy, and I don't lose friends easy.

I love when a scene can almost be boring because it's so honest, you know.

My mother left my father in their late 60s.

Movies are weird; it's like trying to make a painting with one hundred people. It's a weird world, but every job is weird; it's always a little bit hard, crazy and fun, a nice combination.

If you get to bring a little movie on the festival circuit, it's a nice experience because you get to see it with an audience. People who go to festivals to watch films are usually a little more eager to enjoy them. It's exciting because it's like you're going to the film's opening night at every festival.

I love movies and always, always have.

I've done every job in the world, and movies, the only thing close to a movie that I've ever done is it's kind of like being in a band.

One of my favorite movies that I've ever seen is '25th Hour.' I love it so much because it's simply about a guy who's going to jail for six years, and this slow, terrible day he has.

Whether I'm writing the script, or someone else writes the initial draft, I'm always an actor's director first. I always try to listen to them a lot and try to put their voices into their character.

'Midnight Cowboy' is an exquisite piece of filmmaking. It's insane.

I don't ever take a break. I'm always writing.

Some people have this crazy talent that makes you tap into a human side as well, even with all their fame.

If you're going to come wanting to work really hard, you're never going to bum me out.

I have no schooling in any normal sense but have learned from the best as far as just doing things. I learned filmmaking from loving movies and then just saying, 'OK, let's do it.'

Sometimes I find some movies patronizing, which I feel is the ultimate crime.

When I had jobs, I was always doing manual jobs because I couldn't think. I worked at the docks, unloading trucks, and did ridiculous jobs.

It's weird: making a movie is like life compacted into three months. You have these very intense relationships with people, and you talk to them every day - your editor, the casting people, music people, your actors - then it ends. It's like a circus life.

When I was a kid, I was into hardcore music. The scene in New York was tiny. Every person hanging out was in a band and played at the A7 Club. There was not much rehearsing or anything. Just doing.

To me, the screenplay only becomes the Bible of the film after the actors have been cast. You go over the initial script with them and listen to the way they talk. Then you try to do a rewrite to accommodate them.

I wrote music. I was in a hardcore band when I was 14, and I wasn't good enough to play anyone else's songs, so I had to write my own.

I was born in Queens, New York. I've done every job you could think of in New York. Selling peanuts to Larry Fresh Fruit ices to dog walker to unloading trucks at the Jacob Javits Center.