If you have to be persuaded about something, you shouldn't do it.

I like to hide behind my intellect. But the truth is, unless all of us start getting honest about what the reality is, things aren't going to change. If we all keep pretending that we know stuff and if everyone else would do what we knew and everything would be a better place, then nothing is going to change.

It's interesting, the worse things get in cities, the tougher that cities get, the more brutal the humor is. The tougher things people face, the darker the sense of humor gets and I find that incredibly optimistic.

I'm a big sports fan. Football. Cricket.

I made this film 'The Beach,' which didn't take place in a city, and it didn't really suit me.

I love that sense of change that you'd get in pop music every three minutes, every four minutes.

What you do is take the power [popularity] gives you - which is very temporary and minor but significant - and use it. The danger is that you use it on a vanity project that no one wants to watch.