Quotes from Neil LaBute

I wanted to make these people real, not like they were in a painting. Like these are people who don't know they're in a period movie. Those concerns are incredibly immediate.

I see bits and pieces of me in all the characters in my films.

Everyone has a little bit of Howard and Chad in them. I think there's Christine in all men as well.

I didn't choose BYU, I like to think it chose me.

With In the Company of Men, the misogynist label stuck early and firmly. In the end, it probably did hurt the film a bit, because getting women into the theaters was difficult.

Without In The Company of Men, I could still be teaching, so who knows if this would've existed.

I was very careful to cast guys who were very good-looking and very fit and who had a certain sense of privilege about them, because with that sense of privilege comes contempt.

I wanted to tell a story that interested me as much in the telling as in the watching.

You start as an audience member and create a world you're interested in, and then you move into the telling of those stories, bringing what has interested you as an audience member.

I would be more frightened as a writer if people thought my movies were like science fiction.

I think the more the actor lets you know what he thinks of the character, the less the audience cares - like a comedian who laughs at his own jokes.

People have perhaps gotten to the point where for the most part movies are a just bit of escape.

I will say that the idea of a woman being deceptive came from that original discussion with critics and reporters about if woman could do that kind of thing. Evelyn, herself, grew out of the discussions about how capable women are of deceit and lying and manipulation.

We live in a disposable society. It's easier to throw things out than to fix them. We even give it a name - we call it recycling.

The future is now. It's time to grow up and be strong. Tomorrow may well be too late.

Everybody has the ability to be manipulative, to be hateful and deceitful.

In a relationship you have to open yourself up.

But for me, it feels like a natural extension of what I've been doing: exploring relationships. Here you have two relationships and we can explore how difficult it is for people to be together.

But even with a character like Cary who is relatively outlandish, at the end of the movie he's in a place where I wouldn't have expected him to be - taking on the responsibility of a woman who is pregnant and who used to be his best friend's wife.

We humans are a fairly barbarous bunch.

There is a lot of absurdity sometimes, not just in Mormonism but often in other religions that want to pretend that no bad happens in their church, rather than taking care of what bad does happen.

I mean, I'm as fucked up and miserable as the next person, but I don't let it get me down. You know?

WAITRESS 2 Then, the topper . . . an elbow to the ribs . . . "Hey, you make it?" Really sensitive, like we've got a fucking recipe for an orgasm!

WAITRESS 1 What do I hope for in a guy? Everything . . . Pause. WAITRESS 1 What do I expect? Not much . . . Pause. WAITRESS 1 What'll I take? Usually . . . anything . . .