Americans are not renowned for having a sense of irony.

The crime film is the most honest American film.

You obviously can't cast Brad [Pitt] as an everyman guy because he just brings way too much baggage.

I'm sure part of the fascination with the film is voyeuristic - that we go to see somebody who's been struck by lightning.

I always feel that crime films are about capitalism.

I imagine that in a closed, hermetic society like the mob, where everybody knows each other, it must be really, really unpleasant to have to kill people. It's the sort of thing you really want to avoid.

It's obviously a lot more of a political undertaking making a movie in Hollywood and it's a business there. In Australia, they don't expect films to make money; whereas in America they're counting on it.