I was very impressed with Davis Guggenheim's 'An Inconvenient Truth.' He's inspired me as one of the newer, cutting-edge documentary filmmakers. I see those films, and I'm just instinctively drawn to them.

Obama really is a warrior in chief. He's not afraid to get the job done.

I don't think about awards when I set out to do something. If that happens, it's great.

I'm a huge sports fan. I love the psychology of athletes and the culture of athletics. I'm constantly drawn to those kinds of stories.

Generally, studios are adverse to making films about war in the Middle East. They'd much rather make a film with a superhero or an alien or a robot.

I grew up during a time of peace, and my friends weren't joining the military - it wasn't something on my radar. But if you asked me whether I could go back and do it all over again now, and it meant I wouldn't go into filmmaking, there's a part of me that would have loved to try to be a Navy SEAL.

If I could find a way to make a film that takes you into the mind of a fighter, where you have 36 minutes of combat with so many different emotions, so many highs and lows, so many obstacles to overcome, I'd do that.

Sweating the small stuff is important in boxing and life. On a movie, we have production assistants who're 18 and 19 years old. If someone asks you for a cup of coffee, and you bring them a cup of coffee that's cold, I make a big deal of that. I make a really, really big deal of that. You have to pay attention to details.

The more you learn about the science of boxing, the more appreciation you have for man's ability to think and perform in violent situations, and that's what interests me in film.

Life is, and should be, a little hard. Getting punched in the face or getting an occasional concussion will probably happen to us all at some point in our lives. We can handle it.