Over the phone from New York a few days ago, McCarthy laid out some of his "givens" for character-based filmmaking -- and why sometimes he doesn't want viewers to read even positive criticism, for fear they won't be able to see his movies fresh.

"One thing I like about storytelling as a writer or a filmmaker is to let things unfold organically; when you do that, what is happening [even in plot terms] becomes so much harder to predict. In The Visitor, there were structural things I felt very challenged by, such as bringing an important character into the movie 50 minutes into the running time. But if the character and the performer are right, people do get invested in someone that late into the movie.

"It's interesting, I've only made two movies [The Station Agent and The Visitor] and I'm still in a learning process. How do people experience the story? What do they take away?  I was talking to one person who wondered whether a guy as shut down as the guy at the center of this movie would let two young strangers stay in his apartment. But a lot of emotional reasoning goes into that choice. He's a professor who has worked with students all his life and at some point had an affinity for young people and their plight. And once he calms down and has a glass of wine, he may see that this couple are sharing something similar to what he once shared with his wife in this apartment.

"We all have strong elements of personality that we sometimes oppose in our actions. That's what makes characters more interesting for me and more fun to play with."

One way McCarthy keeps a project like The Visitor unified and alive -- and a real movie as much as a character piece -- is to involve his behind-the-camera team in his creative process early on.  "Reading the script, walking around New York City, getting an inside perspective on the locations, you start to set a tone with your team. We can tell each other, 'Remember we talked about this: we didn’t want this a year and a half ago.' In some ways it takes the pressure off: it's organized cheating."

Or in the case of a film as stirring as The Visitor, shared inspiration.

Above: Associated Press photo of Tom McCarthy