I like to think of film-making not just as an act of personal self-aggrandisement but rather as an act of public service.

If you're not making epic, archetypal films on some level, I think you're wasting a great potential of cinema.

I want all of my films to belong to me.

That's how I like to do it with actors, have them really go for it and I'll tell them when it's too much. It's always easier to bring it back then to push it further.

I'm hoping one day I can make one really good film.

My editor and I remain very disciplined. It's just sometimes when you're making a film, you get into the cutting room and you see a scene that's slowing you down in a certain section, but if you remove that scene then, emotionally or story-wise, another scene a half-hour later won't have the same impact. You just get stuck with it.

A pitfall of making a comedy with a studio-and it's also an American cultural thing-is that I get tired of being encouraged to go always for laughs.