The hardest single thing you do is get the bloody screenplay right.
The time it would take me to write a screenplay it would take me the time to make two films. I would rather make the movies, and I'm a better moviemaker than I would be writer.
It's hard writing screenplays.
The whole process of making movies and writing screenplays is visceral and intuitive.
Dad entered the Second World War like any other man, trying to do the right thing.
In film, it's very important to not allow yourself to get sentimental, which, being British, I try to avoid. People sometimes regard sentimentality as emotion. It is not. Sentimentality is unearned emotion.
I've always avoided sequels, unless I felt there was something fresh.
If you go back and look, a completely underrated film is 'Quest for Fire.' That was one of the most genius, simplistic but incredibly sophisticated notion of what it was. The evolution of that was just fantastic.
The word 'comedy' implies slapstick.
I like a film such as 'American Beauty,' and I like 'Spider-Man.'
I was always amazed about how much I could finally squeeze into a thirty second commercial.
I'm used to very strong women because my mother was particularly strong, and my father was away all the time. My mother was a big part of bringing up three boys, so I was fully versed in the strength of a powerful woman, and accepted that as the status quo.
If 'formulaic' is somebody who is unlikely to succeed starting down a process and succeeding - then isn't that what most films are about? And art films are about people who aren't likely to succeed and then don't succeed.
I'm a yarn teller. My job is to engage you as much as I can and as often as I can.
I've got many letters from Muslim organizations thanking me for making 'Kingdom of Heaven.'
I've gradually realised that what I do best is universes. And I shouldn't be afraid of that.
Your landscape in a western is one of the most important characters the film has. The best westerns are about man against his own landscape.
