There are things that Scotsmen get and other people don't get in the dialogue. Scottish characters can be pinpointed by a phrase, targeted very quickly.

The movie business is very much like that: people in authority making purely emotional decisions instead of interesting rational ones.

I went to the Glasgow Youth Theatre and they just let me in. But I was so shy that I was there for about six weeks without actually introducing myself.

I'm not fond of any of my films in an intimate way, but Gregory's Girl would be number 4 on my list.

Perhaps naively I thought people understand what humor was, that it was invented by the human race to cope with the dark areas of life, problems and terrors.

At the moment, my mother is the only one left in Glasgow, although it's certainly my home.

I was quite surprised how easily people wanted to pigeonhole things I've done.