I think it’s a real privilege to make a living doing this job. It’s a great job—the best I can think of, actually. You walk into a room and say, “I’m imagining this,” and they give you millions of dollars to go out and make it real. That’s a pretty good gig. I have certain standards—sometimes I hit them and sometimes I don’t. I don’t think being precious is really good for any art form  So I believe in being really prepared, working hard, doing everything I can think of to improve it, but staying on budget, staying on schedule, and when it’s over, it’s over and I’m onto the next thing. I’m really dispassionate about it, in that regard. I haven’t seen a great benefit in my own work in agonizing over things. I’ve seen more of a benefit in my work, for moving quickly. It’s harder to be pretentious when you’re moving really fast.

—Steven Soderberg