I really feel like the sky is the limit. I'm a dreamer, and I dream in full vivid color HD.
It's always better if you can keep the bar low, and then exceed the expectation. When it's high, that makes the job even tougher. But, I think we're up for the challenge. We're ready.
We need more filmmakers of color telling the story. I'd like to see more filmmakers take their products out independently, put together a good commercial film and distribute it online.
I've learned that if you can keep it calm and keep it fun and loose, then that allows for ideas from the crew. I don't care where an idea comes from, whether it's the crew or my producer or the actors or anybody. I just want it to be fun, and if that's the case, then I think you make a better movie.
I'm looking for films that can resonate and hopefully have some level of critical importance but also have commercial viability and can put butts in seats. At the end of the day, that is the name of the game. And if you can find that perfect balance, then that's the sweet spot.
I think that America is more diverse than ever before, and is continuing to become more diverse, and our content should and is reflecting that.
I think the country needs a good laugh. There are so many things dividing us right now, in the real world, that the timing is right for escapist entertainment that makes you feel better about your own family. If this family can survive, than everyone has got a chance.
In real life, holidays are extremely stressful. They're the best of times and worst of times because you have got people trying to get along with people that you don't always get along with.
Obviously, my stuff has been more in the comedy realm, and I really believe that if I'm laughing behind the camera, then I think the film will be funnier.
It's exciting to me that Ride Along is a movie that has two African American leads, but it's even more exciting to me that it's not a movie about two African American leads. They just happen to be African American. It's a universal story. It's a story about a guy in love with a girl, and he's gotta get the approval of the overbearing, mean brother. That's a universal theme.
You want people to go see it by the hoards. And for there to be talk of the possibility of continuing the journey and the ride, if you will, with these characters that we spent so much time honing, and executing this film on all levels, is super exciting.
There's nothing more exciting than to have a project that you like, that you're proud of, and you're waiting for that validation for the world to see it and say, "Yeah! You know what? That was pretty damn funny!"
It's tough to get any movie made, but unless it's a movie about race or culture or ethnicity, it's becoming less and less important who's playing what. You see that on the big screen and the small screen, and I think that's great. That's exciting.
My philosophy is making a movie is difficult enough and I just feel as if you should have a really good time when you do make films whether it's a drama or a comedy.
I've never been in the position where that conversation is a serious conversation before the movie even comes out. On one side of it, that's so great because you've got such great potential. The other side of that is that there's a level of pressure. Now, that clearly means that there's an expectation level, from the studio side, potentially from the audience's side, and from our side.
I never want someone to come out of one of my films and say, "Damn. I wasted an hour and a half of my life." I'm trying to avoid that.
For me, I look at a project that has a story that's going to resonate in some way. It doesn't have to be about a message. It doesn't have to have some underlying theme of overwhelming importance.
