At some point in your life, if you're lucky, you get to design the way in which things evolve.

My life is devoted to self-delusion - and I have a great capacity for that - but it's the thing that gives me the most pleasure, so I can't complain about it.

I find it difficult to be in rooms now for long periods of time. I can usually take it for about an hour. Then I stride out.

I'm not sure you learn anything on film sets.

I'm not keen on history being tampered with... to any extent.

The more articulate somebody is, the more suspicious I am of them. I like to feel that the important things remain unsaid.

You don't merely give over your creativity to making a film - you give over your life! In theatre, by contrast, you live these two rather strange lives simultaneously; you have no option but to confront the mould on last night's washing-up.