"'Eyes Wide Open' took shape from two real life events straight from my own past. One was the sad suicide of my young nephew, a troubled kid, who was found at the bottom of a landmark cliff in central California. The second was a chance encounter forty years ago with none other than, ahem, Charles Manson!"

"I read the script for Wonder Boys, and I said that was almost perfect, it was so classy, cool and funny. It's a really specific thing. We stuck to it, it turned out good and a lot of people liked it."

"I write early in the morning, usually after reading portions of at least half a dozen newspapers on the web."

"When you write biographies, whether it's about Ben Franklin or Einstein, you discover something amazing: They are human."

"I've never been much of a guitarist. I mean, I've played forever, but I was always more of a rhythm kind of guy. I don't read music."