On his character Melvin Purvis, J. Edgar Hoover, and how far the FBI went: "I think that, naturally, when finding a balance, mistakes are always made. And that's what we see here with the FBI. They were initially at a great disadvantage, which is something you don't really learn in the movie. The FBI weren't even allowed to carry weapons until the Kansas City massacre had occurred. They had no jurisdiction over so many crimes that Dillinger committed, from breaking his friends out of jail to robbing banks. Since he crossed the state lines, he was free. I think, in this particular case, you had the brilliant vision of Hoover, but a little too ahead of his time. And they just weren't ready for that yet. And, naturally, Purvis saw some of his very close friends die, and so had to confront [this], which was something very painful to him. Because he really did have a great friendship with Hoover. They just needed more experienced men around. I don't think, that with Purvis, that desire to bring more experienced lawmen in resulted in anything brutal. I think it was more Hoover's embarrassment and Dillinger's spectacular escapes that drove him to take off the white gloves. Those were the kind of things to reduce Purvis, and really had him question his role -- if he believed he had a future with this bureau because he found it all to be morally abhorrent. [He felt it to be] a compromise of the very values that Hoover was espousing."

On meeting Purvis' son and family: "We spent a great deal of time together. I went down to his hometown and met with family and friends. [Purvis' son] has written a wonderful book called 'Vendetta,' which focuses on Purvis' relationship with Hoover, which is really how I approached this entire role. I never viewed Purvis as having a real personal zeal for taking down Dillinger. I think he was somebody who was very understanding and acknowledged why the public would see Dillinger as a hero. He wasn't unaware of the problems of the day, the terrible deprivation of the majority of the population. He did have a personal hatred for Baby Face Nelson because Nelson had killed close friends of his. But otherwise, his driving motivation was that he truly believed in Hoover and he had a great desire to realize Hoover's brilliant vision. And that's what, really, I played in my mind throughout this movie. His conflict between wanting to achieve this vision but recognizing Hoover's own compromises, which Purvis was very unhappy with making."

On working with digital: "I found it a real eye opener. I never worked with HD before. I wish I could work with it on every movie now. Not only does it give one great freedom in terms of the length of take and the numbers of takes you can have, but you can shoot for 52 minutes straight rather than the usual six minutes. It's much more like life, you don't have to stop or pause and think too much about what you're doing. I really feel like you're living it much more. And there were such extraordinary camera operators. Dante Spinotti and Michael, he would operate at times as well, they had such incredible speed. The style in which it was shot was fantastic and, for someone like me -- I don't tend to want to know if my close-up is being done or if it's a wide shot. We often shot masters and close-ups at the same time, and I enjoyed that greatly. If anybody ever listens to me, I will strongly endorse using HD in future movies."

On any possible conflict with HD and the film's time period: "You always want to make a period piece feel very vital to now. And clothing and customs may change, but the internal life of people, it doesn't change so much. And that's ultimately what we're interested in, despite the fact that this era had such a wonderful, rich look to it. But, again, it's the internal life we're interested in, and it hasn't really changed. So I feel like it didn't conflict at all."

On the older-style weapons: "It was quite quaint. Having been trained in modern-day weapons, the type of weapons -- it's all outdated now. They still had this notion that a man does not require two hands to fire a handgun, it's unmanly. Also, the tommy gun was a revelation at the time, it really was what allowed Dillinger and his kind to thrive the few years that they did. The Thompson submachine gun was available, which resulted in Dillinger being able to go and hold up police stations to get their guns and bulletproof vests -- to be that brave. I think the guns at that time were sort of the last guns with character, you know? The Thompson still had so much wood on it, it still kind of smells good after you fire it. You do feel an almost affection towards the weapon. Modern-day weapons are far more capable and lethal but they lack that character. As did the cars as well, and the suits. It was such a golden period."

On the later years of Purvis (Purvis committed suicide, much later in life): "I couldn't leave everything out. Naturally, the person has not learned the lessons that they learned in the future. I really became fascinated with Purvis. So, regardless, whether it was relevant to the movie or not, I just really wanted to learn more and more about him. And I grew to have a great affection for him; I liked the man a great deal. But I do think that it was important, that in the portrayal here -- to recognize that this was an era that haunted him for the rest of his life, and sort of find the key of why that was."

On Dillinger as folk hero: "I think there are extremes within the character. I think that, on the one hand, it's understandable that he became a folk hero, due to the zeitgeist of the time, the inevitable celebration you can see of somebody taking it back from the fat-cat bankers who had screwed over most of the population. However, you can't ignore the fact that, in doing that, even though he may have never been responsible for any innocent person's death, he did associate himself with the likes of Baby Face Nelson, who was a psychopathic killer. The guy was no saint. The guy was no Robin Hood. He has this Robin Hood myth and I think he was a phenomenal marketing man. And he was certainly charismatic. There is that fascination with somebody who appears to know that their life isn't going to last very long, and so they are doing everything right there and then -- that he's going to live to the absolute fullest each and every day. There's truth to both sides. But I think, ultimately, we have a nature where we are fascinated with the outlaw, and if they just give us a few traits that are likable, we forgive them far more than we probably should."