“I was set to do ‘An American Girl’ with Kristen Stewart and then this happened. Now we’re just working out an agreement on the rights. It’s still something she very much wants to do. I’m hoping she’ll do that. It’s torturous getting things made. For example, that movie, because it’s a post-Middle East war film, and it’s about it happening, it works better when the ‘war is over’ than it does during it. No one has ever done a movie about a woman marine. Which is why I want to do it.

She’s perfect for it. She was 18 when we first talked about it. She has a natural — and I mean this as a compliment — American, hometown, tough blue collar girl thing she can deliver. I was thinking of ‘Into the Wild.’ She’s been in these big blockbuster movies, but I love her in small movies where she gets to explore character. I would believe her as a young woman marine. I’ve spent a lot of time around military people. One of the things I was worried about is that she became so beautiful. ‘Stop being so beautiful!’ She grew into this raging beauty. But she can still play a real person.”