Anyone who has a parent can relate to this idea of not quite understanding who your parents are or making up stories about them.
I don't like laughing at people unless they're in a privileged position or if they're in authority. If it's poor people or people who live on the outskirts or on the margins, or the underdog, I'd rather be laughing with them.
To me, spending millions of dollars recreating the world's sadness with actors and props and sets - it seems like a kind of arrogant waste of money... Unless, that is, it's a film about an historical event.
I don't mind going from sadness to comedy in a split-second or mixing the two up.
We all have to remember that New Zealand is built on these kind of people who are rebels and renegades, people doing it their own way, fighting for freedom, and braving the elements. I think it's cool to celebrate that.
Unfortunately, there aren't enough interesting acting roles in New Zealand to sustain a career.
I love living in New Zealand.
We've got a thing called the 'tall puppy syndrome' in New Zealand, where if anyone is doing really well, it's quite common to try and bring them down - like, cut them down and say, 'You've been to the moon? So what? I mean, plenty of people have been to the moon.'
Most people in their lives do feel like they are outsiders at some point.
Most of my films - if you look at the tone, apart from 'Shadows,' which is straight-up comedy - the tone is a mix between comedy and pathos, and I really love that.
Basically, the big studios and companies distributing your movie just take a big cut of profit for making posters.
Nothing could be more restrictive than working with people in advertising.
I've always found the script to be more of a skeleton, the template.
Coming from a very small country, it's always nice to see our own doing well.
I've loved vampires since I was a kid, or loved a lot of the vampire movies that I saw. Anything with sharp teeth, really. I remember you could get those fake vampire teeth, and I remember just keeping them in all the time.
I don't think there's much tolerance for people who are a little different or withdrawn or quiet. They always seem to be the ones who stick out the most, the ones who want to just shy away and withdraw.