I still carry the residue of the pressure I felt as a child to read and appreciate the right books. Growing up, I never allowed myself to read beach reading. I was always plowing through Ford Madox Ford's 'Good Solider' or something I wasn't equipped to understand.

It's kind of major, learning to drive. I feel like it kicked up other stuff in my life.

How you start the movie is critical. And how often you feel that there's no reason for how it's starting.

I've run into more people walking in L.A. than if I drove. Because you stand out so much if you walk. People from my past have stopped their cars and said, 'Hey!' But if I was in a car, they never would've seen me.

Flaws make us all human, and you're rooting for characters because of those flaws. It's ageless if you're interested in relationships and the way people can or can't relate to each other.

People - not just in their teenage years - hold on to this fantasy of love when they're not ready to have a real relationship.

Why do people stay in relationships that are tough from almost the very beginning?

Whether it's music, loss of something, loneliness or friendship - if that emotion is heightened in some way and painted to fit in between the covers of 32 pages, that can become a picture book.