Making a film is so hard that if you don't have your main actors going along with the ride with the rest of the crew it can make your life very difficult.

Rain is also very difficult to film, particularly in Ireland because it's quite fine, so fine that the Irish don't even acknowledge that it exists.

I always argued against the auteur theory; films are a collaborative art form. I've had some fantastically good people help me make the movies.

Most directors have little lists in their heads of people they really want to work with.

I'm always afraid someone's going to tap me on the shoulder one day and say, 'Back to North London'.

The films that I do tend to polarise people's views.

I was once described by one of my critics as an aesthetic fascist.