I think striking the right tone for your story is, if you like, the alchemical work of writing.

I love films where you go into the cinema and loosen the edges of yourself and you hopefully enter into the world of the film. You're watching something unfold before you. I prefer the idea of wonder or intense wonder over shock or something.

I'm trying to get under people's skin in a way. I don't like films that go in one ear and out the other.

The point is the 'me' that you see before you is not the 'me' in my private little space, shape-shifting into the writing role, nor is it the 'me' that works with the actors. Here, at the end of the film doing interviews, I feel like I'm in disguise.

I think striking the right tone for your story is, if you like, the alchemical work of writing.

I don't think good films have messages.

Although filmmaking is collaborative and involves trust, ultimately it is the director who holds the whole picture together in their head.