The California tract houses are like the mundane meeting the mystical. Sometimes if you're driving at twilight, and you see those houses, and they're starting to light up, there's something so beautiful, so ethereal about the fact that they're all… — Zal Batmanglij Copy Share Image
I guess it the one consistent thing in my life was that sense of magic that film provide - I still remember the movies… — Zal Batmanglij Copy Share Image
Actors love to do extreme things, so that is why they become actors; otherwise, they'd be novelists. — Zal Batmanglij Copy Share Image
We lived on anarchist farms, squatted in the inner city, and hopped rail cars. We wanted to see how other young people were creating… — Zal Batmanglij Copy Share Image
A film set is all about hierarchy, but I always like to think about the circus. In the circus, there's this real sense of… — Zal Batmanglij Copy Share Image
I think if aliens came to Earth, we would laugh. If there was an alien technology, we would laugh. — Zal Batmanglij Copy Share Image
'The Terminator' is grounded in so much realism. It's again a story that centers around a woman that isn't a 'woman's picture' necessarily. I found it really thrilling, both 'Terminator 1' and '2.' When you watch it it's such fine storytelling. — Zal Batmanglij Copy Share
No one dives a dumpster like a rich kid dives a dumpster, because there's no shame. — Zal Batmanglij Copy Share Image
A director really doesn't deal with performance that much, especially if you deal with great actors. Their work is the performance. What you're helping… — Zal Batmanglij Copy Share Image
I stay away from the writing part because I think that if it sticks, it sticks. You just know it. The stuff that doesn't… — Zal Batmanglij Copy Share Image
On 'Sound of My Voice,' I was the first and last word, which is kind of a dictatorship. I like collectives, though. — Zal Batmanglij Copy Share Image
