Stephen Gaghan Quotes (5 Quotes)

I could have concentrated on George Clooney's character, ... I could have had him in every scene and told the entire story from his point of view. That certainly would have made my life a lot easier over the last several years. But the canvas was too large. These days, if you make a movie about East and West and turn it into a simple piece of disposable entertainment, that seems to me criminal.

It's remarkable. The guy I started with in the end was the only person that I thought actually had a sort of selfless motivation.

And they may even believe it most of the time, ... But I do think there's a point that we all have a feeling inside of us that we know - I mean, most people know - when you're just bending the rules a little bit, or you just cross the line a little bit, or you're doing something that doesn't feel quite right. In that moment you tell yourself, 'It's for my family, it's so that I can be set for life so my kids can go to the good colleges.' You give yourself an out, and it's that little out that we give ourselves that I think that I tried to get in the film.

What I really got from Bob was this unbelievable sadness. He really did know how the world worked, and he really did seem like a wandering guy without a country, like an exile. And it was sad.

I just wanted to get together with him. I wanted to see, what is a Bob Baer I'd never met a CIA officer. I'd only seen them in movies.