After I script the movie, I have to storyboard it out, I have to budget it, and I have to understand if I can afford all those visual effects or not.

I guess you don't make any franchise movies unless the fans are there.

We got together and realized that Universal made it clear that they were out of the Riddick business. They didn't want to spend that kind of money anymore. So, it was going to be an independent movie.

There are trappings of science fiction which I kind of embrace, but there are also cliches which I run from.

While you're making the film and working with the actors, if you want to have a little room to breathe and experiment and play, it grows, and you want that to happen. It's not enough to just shoot the script. You've gotta come up with new inspiration, as you shoot it. There's gotta be room for that and time for that, so it grows.

When you do a studio picture, all the paperwork and legal stuff is already taken care of!

I don't want to have so much humor [in films] that it undermines the jeopardy, but enough to sometime relieve tension.