One of the traditions of film acting is a sort of mumbled realism. Be minimal, and do less. 'Even less than that.'

I like action movies, even though I think action movies are kind of derided now. But there is something extraordinary about action movies, which is absolutely linked to the invention of cinema and what cinema is and why we love it.

I have this theory that your first film is always your best film in some way. I always try to get back to that moment when you're not relying on things you've done before.

The sun is the most important thing in everybody's life, whether you're a plant, an animal or a fish, and we take it for granted.

Once, a French journalist told me that all my films are the same. I said, 'Excuse me? I work hard to make them different.' What she meant was that in my films there is a character that faces insurmountable odds, and they overcome them. But I thought that might be true, but you need certain factors for drama, and you need to overcome them.

I've sort of escaped my background, as people often do, through art and culture.

We want to see drama told in a cathartic way, with power, with emotion where you empathize and then you're frightened. All those feelings charge up in you and you feel for the story.