[in a 1985 interview] I like watching people, and when I first moved to Manhattan, I lived in the East Village. The people there fascinated me. They were mostly young, from conservative, middle class, suburban families, and they were living on the fringe in seedy apartment buildings and burned-out lofts. It was a mysterious, almost surreal experience. These were the Flower Children of the '80s. And I wanted to make a film about them, not saying that their lifestyle was right or wrong, just that it existed.