Quotes

[on Sons of Anarchy (2008)] I'd like to think that, when we're pushing the envelope, it's never gratuitous. Ultimately, the world this story takes place in, the subculture, is really background for what I like to think of as a family drama. It's a love story between a man and his wife. To make characters like the 'Sons' palatable for an audience, you have to stress those elements of brotherhood and family and love.

I met a group of guys from that world at a rally about a month and a half ago, and they said an interesting thing: that this show has ultimately become a good PR vehicle for outlaw clubs, from acceptance from the general public all the way to law enforcement. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But I was glad.

[open letter on the Weinstein scandal] The allegations against [producer] Harvey Weinstein are clearly deplorable. No matter how many great films he's bullied into production, or his guilt-induced contributions to left-minded ideals, this kind of intimidation and abuse of power is perverse and utterly unforgivable. Period. But what's equally unnerving to me is the multi-faced, backroom, Hollywood power machine that has been protecting this kind of behavior for decades and when dirt bursts through the seams, diligently sweeps it under its antique Mansour rug. They will blind us with shiny, off-point objects and deafen us with ego-soothing rhetoric. We've seen this bad fucking movie so many times - Act 1: The quick mea culpa, surrounded by grieving family and a well-gifted rabbi. Act 2: The corporation protects its assets and publicly purges the shark, letting folks know that their waters are once again, safe to swim. Act 3: The predator slips away, licks his wounds, writes a redemption memoir, and in a year, maybe two, maybe less, he rises like a reformed Phoenix, with a new company, a new project, and a refined set of stealthier hunting tactics. And by the time this horror flick hits iTunes, we all fall prey to apathy and are guilty of ignorance. Allowing the give-it-time machine to dilute our disgust to a vague memory of distaste. Manipulate our outrage until it all feels a bit over exaggerated. Cloud us with doubt as to whether the allegations were ever truth or just simply salacious lore. [Oct. 2017]