I don't think you can be a director without a kind of sense of competitiveness.

The films you're making have to be faithful to the material.

I think it's great to see how they've grown up, not just as actors but as people. They're still very much the same kids that I met many years ago. They've grown up and they are funny and wicked and naughty and bright, and I think as actors their work is just getting better and better. They've blossomed.

I love books. I read voraciously, and I happened to have been fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time.

Making the films is never easy, but actually that aspect of trying to make a better film or to keep the standard high is something that comes organically.

I got a few things, because I think the props are so beautiful as much as anything else. The detail of the work is something that one has no idea of.

In some ways, many of the skills you have as a producer on independent films also apply to making big tentpole films: You surround yourself with a brilliant director, great script and talented people in every department who are smarter than you.