As the years go by and I make more films, I am increasingly interested in capturing place as a vivid backdrop for my films.

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

A book suggests a whole world and story that I could have never thought of in a million years.

The biggest fear I have is to die with regrets, and of course that will come true.

I don't feel despair because I am able to make the films I want to make, and that gives me hope.

I always think about visual comedy. I was raised watching silents, and I'm always thinking about how to make cinema, not good talking - although I want good talking. I'm much more interested in framing, composition, and orchestration of bodies in space, and so forth. My goal is always what Chuck Jones wanted his Warner Brothers cartoons to be, which was if you turn down the sound, you could still tell what's going on.

The actors are the greatest executors of tone in a film. They're the most important cinematic component.