In martial arts, for every attack, there is a counter you can throw. Somebody traps you, you can throw a hook. But there is no counter for bias.

Bottom line - American history tells us that where there is a will, there will always be a way to achieve quick and fast inclusion.

While I was able to pass as white as soon as I came to America, this was not really possible while I was growing up, as it was pretty obvious that I wasn't 'all German.' So my privilege was that in America, I could conveniently withhold one of my bloodlines and avoid racism and discrimination. That is not a privilege most people of color have.

I'm not really the kind of girl that goes for action films.

A lot of the guys that work for Warners and make these big films there all come from the same film school. Like Michael Bay, Zack Snyder, Tarsem Singh - they all went to Art Center in the College of Design. And there's a certain expectation when these guys graduate.

Movies and TV are America's No. 1 export. So if our No. 1 export is all male, all white, then there's only one point of view. And I just think it's really important that as Americans - I'm a new American, but I am an American - that we don't portray ourselves to the world so one-sided and exclusive.

I thrive on impossible odds - always have.

Religion is all good, but we are almost back to medieval times now, where we are obsessed with going into religious wars and electing our politicians based on their religious statements.

I have heard of 'Green Street'-dedicated birthday parties, a website dedicated only to the clothing. It has no end. If you hashtag #greenstreet or #greenstreethooligans, you cannot go a day without people saying it's their favourite movie. It's frustrating because it's a massive hit, but nobody gives it credit.

I understand it must be hard to realize that the playing field you are collecting all your trophies from is not a level playing field, but that doesn't mean you can just make inaccurate statements.

The only reason I was offered 'Punisher' was because I had made an indie film that was rated R for violence and was filled with fight scenes.

For every IP block, DRM, and who-knows-what security feature Hollywood spends thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours on, some piracy kid will undo it for free and within a couple of minutes.

When I was pitching 'Hooligans,' with a budget of $15 million, most people said they don't want to see a picture about soccer thugs.

People would go from village to village with their books in a time of poverty and disease. They would get people around them, and for an hour, these storytellers would change people's lives. I'd always thought I was a reincarnation of that. That's who I want to be.

My dad is Arab. I'm not Muslim, but half of family is, so I see a lot of injustice happening in the portrayal of Muslims that they don't have any heroes.

Back-light is the cinematographer's friend.

I knew I needed to make a studio film - not for any financial reason, but because, as a filmmaker, and especially as a female filmmaker, you have to break through the glass ceiling.

I loved 'The Conjuring' so much. It's really scary.

Supernatural films allow you to bend the rules of time and space - that's really fun, especially for screenwriters who often get shot down for logic reasons.

When the whole 'Saw' thing died down, I feel like I had praise withdrawals. I had never been congratulated so much on something in my life. So, it was a really amazing whirlwind when 'Saw' came out.

I do feel like in filmmaking you are largely in control of the perception of you. If you want to be seen as the comedic person you've got to write a comedy and go after that.

I just try to write literally what I love. That's usually the barometer that I use. As trite as it sounds, I'm like, 'what would I want to see? What would I be excited about?'

Any movie that deals with an AI computer voice stands in the long, long shadow of '2001.'

Once I have a story idea I like it doesn't even matter to me what genre it is, I'm just so happy to have one.