"Columbine convinced me to tell a hard story. I wanted to end the sixth season of Grey’s Anatomy with a hospital shooting, but I was worried about the portrayal of violence and how to convey the deeper message to the audience. Then I came across this book by Dave Cullen. Reading it broke my heart open. It’s not about a shooting as much as it’s about what happens to people who survive this kind of tragedy. It’s written with a raw honesty that helped me glimpse the emotional toll this kind of event can have. Anyone concerned about gun violence in schools should consider it required reading."

"An obvious influence on Food Party. That was the first food film I ever saw. It was really exciting for me to see someone focus a whole movie on food, you know? I’ve never seen that before. I like making my own art and [that is Tampopo‘s] subject matter, but with food. But I also like the tangents that it takes. Basically there’s a main story, and there’s a love story. And the subplots are really incredibly visual, too. Two lovers are passing raw egg yolk back and forth. Then he’s, like, dipping her boob in fresh egg whites. There’s a sausage fight. It’s a really joyful movie."