Jeff Baena

I'm just trying to get an exposure and make my day.

If it feels like you're aiming for something too familiar, and you're not having a primary new experience, then what's the point of making that movie? It's been done before, so try to find something new out of it.

After doing 'Life After Beth,' which I think had one line that wasn't scripted, everything was scripted so that it sounds natural, and I went to such great lengths to create dialogue and to come across the way that people wouldn't sound like they were on the nose.

If something's really selfless, then there's really no value in it for you... there's only value in it for the world.

I know, when I was in film school, some of my films were silly, but a lot of them were more dramatic. I don't think I intentionally set out to do comedy stuff. I guess that's a consequence of coming up working with David O. Russell and skewing toward those sensibilities.

I always knew I wanted to make movies since I was around eleven. I never thought of it as wanting to do straight-up comedy. Even now, I don't see things in terms of genre.

I've always maintained that people that are funny and smart can do anything in film.

When people are committed to things, and the world view they have is no longer in alignment with our world view, then it becomes funny.

Comedy is all about rhythm and context, and there's all types of comedies, and it's about finding that right brand, that consistency in tone.

Having been through breakups when you get back with the person thinking it's going to work the second time - it never does.

I like collaborating with actors. I love finding that moment where it all comes together.

I grew up in suburbia, so it's a world I'm familiar with... but in my experience, all the families that I grew up thinking were the perfect families who kept it together... all their secrets would come out, and it'd be something dark and disgusting beneath the surface, so I wanted to exploit that.