Tony Gilroy

I wanted to try before I got too old to try to do a big movie and I'd been looking for something to do that was interesting enough to spend those two years of my life on.

I like knowing where I am in action sequences if I'm supposed to.

I love the idea of spies in love. How would it work between two people who were so programmed to lie and be suspicious, who have a whole life based on pretence?

Fear changes everything. We're animals, and when we get afraid we act like animals. I'm not exempt from that.

You change or you hide your head in the sand.

The writing is really hard. You're alone. It really pulls it out of you. You pull it out of your head. But when you're a director, you're shopping - you're picking this actor, you're picking this scene. It's like the most intense kinetic high-speed shopping of all time. You sit in a chair and it will all come rushing at you like a wind tunnel.

I spend a lot of time in a sort of free state when I'm writing in the beginning and sketching.

The main thing for me is I really like strong endings. If there's a strong ending, you can take more time in the beginning, your first act can be really quite different.

I don't like to be crazy on different levels all of the time.