A book, a magazine and a cup of coffee.

You have to be stubborn. You have to believe. You have to build up. Create an energy that makes the movie attractive to people, make people fight for it and believe in it as much as you. I think film is a collaboration. You have to humble yourself to that collaboration. I think at least me, with my style of filmmaking. A lot is said of the idea of independent film, how you make an independent film. I’m very dependent. I’m not an independent filmmaker, I’m a dependent filmmaker. I need people.

If you’re going to make a film, get people to believe in it. Bring people around and make them get to a place where they love the film more than you do. Where they’ll fight for it and that’s exactly what started happening in Blue Valentine over those twelve years of venturing. I had people that it was as much their film as it was my film. Be dependent. Be dependent on other people.