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

It's dangerous to think too much about how a film will be received. Filmmaking is not a popularity contest. Some would disagree.

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.

To me the question of inspiration is an exercise in hindsight. The truth is inspiration is mysterious at the time. I don't think it's ever a rational process.

One of the most ephemeral and important things is atmosphere and tone and it's very hard to put your finger on what creates that.

I've never forgotten what it's like to be in your early twenties, which is not a particularly easy time. You've left your family, you've left the strictures of high school, and you're trying to break free and form yourself but you have to support yourself as well. We don't really give enough credence to that time of life and to its troubles.

The great thing about being a writer is that you have a long, perhaps frighteningly long time in which to do your work.