It's the same old story. Nothing in this world happens unless white folks says it happens. And therein lies the problem of being a professional black storyteller - writer, musician, filmmaker.
— James McBride
I'm proud of 'Miracle at St. Anna' and I loved it; there's no question in my mind it's as good as any movie that came out in 2007.
I'm not interested in food. It's just fuel.
Writing for me is cutting out the fat and getting to the meaning.
When you're interviewing someone, even your mother - you have to sort of deal with you have to get some objective space from yourself and the person but you also have to find what's the best way to get the information from that person.
I'd like to do something involving jazz. But books are how I earn my living, and I'd like to stay with the horse I rode in on.
Be kind to the living.
I put headlights in Ford vans. I still drive a Ford.
If you have the material it will form itself as a kind of connective tissue.
As a journalist, the details always tell the story.
I wish all critics, no matter their color, were more sophisticated when it comes to the moral questions a film like 'St. Anna' is trying to raise.
My family is my career.
People don't realize you're blowing over changes, time changes, harmony, different keys. I mark a point in my solo where it's got to peak at point D I go to A, B, C D then I'm home.
First person narrative is a very effective tool but you have to know as a writer how to make it work.
