Aaron Ruell quotes:

Being an actor really, really strengthens me as a director. There's just a certain type of understanding that comes from having been there and knowing how much is really being asked of actors that helps me.

I like to mix pieces in my art direction from the '60s or the '40s and the '90s and present-day stuff. To me, that feels very real. When I go into people's houses, it's not all today.

My introduction to the Madonna Inn came as a young boy when we would take summer vacations to a nearby town. My dad would take us into their gift shop bathroom, which was a huge waterfall that functioned as the men's urinal. So as a kid, this was the most amazing thing I had ever seen.

I feel as if I've been fairly successful with maintaining a cohesive tone between the work I make as a photographer and as a director.

With the work that I do as a director, I've got dialogue, camera movement, and character blocking to help create a tone to the piece. In photography, those elements are somewhat void so that tone becomes a bit more subtle but still equally important.

It's just this little comedy about this group of guys, and their local hangout is a pool hall, and it's starting to get taken over by this big corporate, evil kind of guy. And it's just about them trying to save the day and their little pool hall in the process of it all. It's called 'Think Tank.'

If I do a certain number of ads, I have to do a personal project in between, just for my own sanity. I still consider myself a punk-rock kid.