I see the job of directing as being one of creating the right atmosphere, creating an environment where people can realize their full potential.

I went to comprehensive school in North London and left without any qualifications [diploma]. And I was doing bits of acting and improv in a drama club in the evenings. Then I discovered you didn't need qualifications to go to art school, you just needed a body of work.

I've been wanting for some time to find a way of stylizing cinema and trying to get closer to the emotional story I was telling and get rid of all the bumph that goes with it and allow the audience a more participatory experience. It was an attempt to do all of those things and to express the idea that all these people were just performing roles in their lives.

3D doesn't work quite so well with quick cuts and I probably would have done some longer takes had I really taken that information onboard.

An artist needs to live to create, and to live means to suffer.

I think people are at their most creative when they're relaxed. I don't believe that tension is good for creativity. Everyone is relaxed and therefore can feel able to express their own individual creativity and lots of ideas come in. It's a joy like that.

I worked hard, but I was lucky the right people happened to see my work.