I always say to anybody who's going over to America for the first time, 'Whatever you do, go and see a popular mainstream film with a big audience.' Because people shout out. You never get that in Britain. Everybody's so quiet, scared to laugh. It's like being in church.

It's a nice way to put the focus back on this simple act... if someone creates you.

I find it difficult enough being called "Mr. Boyle," which as I age I'm increasingly called.

A lot of film directors are quite scared of actors. They are a bit of a nightmare sometimes, but I like them. It looks like cunning, but you try to get extra things from them all the time, by stealth, by making them feel confident, so they trust you and you can push a bit.

I don't want to make pompous, serious films; I like films that have a kind of vivacity about them.

The problem with being British... I don't know if it's me being British or being raised a strict Catholic, but you never really enjoy success.

Normally, I'm a very controlling director. Directors are controlling. It's part of the job, but there's various degrees of it and the constructs I normally work on are very controlling constructs.