SAM ESMAIL

I've always said that the first season was the first act of my feature, so this is what I meant. I wanted the story of 'Mr. Robot' to be Elliot actually accomplishing his goal, setting the world into chaos. What would happen to society if something like this occurred where, basically, if the consumer-debt industry were to be erased?

I love voiceover. I never understood this idea that it was lazy. Well, yes, there are those movies or TV shows that use it as just a way to get out exposition. But you know what? That's just bad writing.

I rip off of every movie and TV show I've ever seen in my life.

You have to have that core creative team around you who's going to support your vision, and challenge and evolve it.

With TV season structures - and I'm a huge TV watcher - you look at shows like 'Breaking Bad,' which is my favorite show of all time, and 'The Sopranos,' which is pretty high up there as well, and there was that thing where, every season, Walter White would go up a level, but there would be a new bad.

If you think about it, just the psychology of the superhero is, 'Because I can, I should protect people, and I should put bad guys away, and I should defend society.' But you're forming your own justice. There's no judge and jury here: you are it. That, in and of itself, is a very complicated way of looking at morality.

I don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican or a conservative, the election of Trump is a national tragedy for multiple reasons. It will go down as one of the worst tragedies in American history. But he's not a dictator. This happened because we either allowed it or voted for it.

I love when a protagonist and antagonist can find common ground.

I used to hold Stanley Kubrick film festivals at my house in high school. These are not cool things.

I've always been fascinated by this idea of who we are versus who we want to be.

People thought I looked weird, that I talked weird.

Looking back at 'Taxi Driver' or, really, any of the Martin Scorsese films, he really filmed New York City in a way that I saw New York City.

I think technology gives the illusion that you are connecting with people, social media particularly.

Any time I approach a scene, it's not just what's on the page - it's how the camera's going to show or not show what's on the page. It's which character are we going to align with and what music is going to be playing.

When I started thinking about 'Mr. Robot,' I thought about it as a movie, and I thought about the complete arc, and that is the one story I'm going to tell.

I think I was told numerous times in the industry that nobody wants to watch a guy on a keyboard.

I did not love going out to parties or even get-togethers, really - I went to the movies, which, if you think about it, is an isolating experience anyway - and this was because I had anxiety about interacting with people.

The experience you're going to take the audience on is as important as the story you're trying to tell. And that experience needs to excite me so much that I am desperate to share it.

I always thought the writing process for movies and TV shows was just a blueprint. The making of it was the thing.

The story of 'Mr. Robot' is really about this guy who's lonely - who's alone and feels so disconnected from the world.

Do I want a character who just has the best motives and the best intentions, zero flaws, and is doing things for the right reasons? No!

I think there is more cohesion when you have one director on set.

Even great actors who transform who they are still go to a really honest place; I think that's sort of that special skill that actors have.

I'm very protective of my online life, and I try and take as many security measures.

'Pi' was one of my favorite films growing up because I thought it employed paranoia and voice-over, and also because it used this unreliable narrator in a very fascinating way.