Waiting is part of writing. When I write the word 'waiting' by hand it even looks like 'writing.'

The best thing about writing has been the writer's life, the sense of being expressed, the ownership of the day, the entirely specious sense of freedom we have, however slave we are to some boss or other. I wouldn't trade it for any other life.

Waiting is part of writing. When I write the word 'waiting' by hand it even looks like 'writing.'

I work fitfully, in hope rather than in expectation, invent methods which last a week, and fill notebooks with tiny, illegible writing which often defies my own attempts to decipher it.

The BFI exists to celebrate all poets of world cinema, of the past and present.

As a teenager I was obsessed with music and with writing and performing songs.

No studio in Hollywood wanted 'Cold Mountain.' None. No one wanted 'Ripley,' no one wanted 'The English Patient.' That tells you there isn't really an appetite for ambitious movie-making out there.