Being a former theater student, of course, there is a part of me that is fascinated with stage crafts and what you can do with illusions and working within the confines of the studio.

I liked to work in a shop down in the basement and invent things and build gadgets.

The very earliest people who made film were magicians.

You have to really be courageous about your instincts and your ideas. Otherwise you'll just knuckle under, and things that might have been memorable will be lost.

My talent is that I just try and try and try and try again and little by little it comes to something.

I have much to learn from my daughter Sofia. Her minimalism exposes my limitations: I'm too instinctive and operatic, I put too much heart into my work, I get lost sometimes in bizarre things - it's my Italian heritage.

I associate my motion picture career more with being unhappy and scared, or being under the gun, than with anything pleasant.