I was always interested in movies the way everyone is interested. That is, I liked to go to the movies

You don't cast the animal, per se. You have an animal trainer who looks for several of them. That is a different experience than dealing with actors. That is just difficult. It is what you expect from an animal on the set. You just run a lot of film and prompt it to do the right thing, but sit through it doing all the wrong things first. It's just unbelievably boring, frustrating and painstaking to shoot.

There aren't reasons why you like this song or this piece of music, or don't like it. It's just, it's either right or wrong, you know?

We tend to do period stuff because it helps make it one step removed from boring everyday reality.

Being non-commercial is never an ambition. Movies come together at different points for fortuitous reasons. You do them as you get the opportunity, as opposed to doing them when you choose to or design to.

The mountain music... is compelling music in its own right, harking back to a time when music was a part of everyday life and not something performed by celebrities.

Like any kind of writing, there are good days and frustrating days. But even frustrating days can be rewarding sometimes.