I fell in love again (laughs).

What I have learned from my work up to now, is to try to be open, but also protect myself by not letting the good and the evil get too much importance.

Only when you are relaxed can you see what's going on.

I'm a much better filmmaker than painter. But studying it did make me visually acute and taught me lessons like being economic: Say something once and you don't have to say it again.

It's a luxury to be able to tell a long form story. I love novels, and I love to have a long relationship with characters.

Performers are so vulnerable. They're frightened of humiliation, sure their work will be crap. I try to make an environment where it's warm, where it's OK to fail - a kind of home, I suppose.

I took four years off after 'In the Cut' because I wanted to see who I'd be without work. I even tried being a hermit in the wilderness in New Zealand. I stayed in a warden's hut two-and-a-half hours off the Routeburn Track through the fjords on the South Island. It was early winter, so there was no electricity or running water.