When I was 24 I went to Nigeria and it was such a culture shock, growing up in Australia and suddenly being the only white man in this unit full of black men.

There were movies that always made me want to be a director. You see brilliant scenes and the way the emotions were handled. I thought, I'd really like to do that.

At HBO, they seem to be well-informed. They make what I think are really quite mature films.

Perhaps the most difficult thing is shooting scenes set 6,000 feet up in the mountains of Mexico.

In opera, everyone's watching from a fixed viewpoint, and that really challenges you. Lighting, the sets, stage groupings, the music-but doesn't relate too much to film.

For a director, the most challenging scenes are the dialogue scenes.

Film is shot in fragments, and the same moments can be shot again and again until the director is satisfied.