My criteria for doing a television series never changed. I wanted more stability, I wanted more of a sense of family, I wanted to do light comedy.

I always want to make films. I think of it as a great opportunity to comment on the world in which we live. Perhaps just because I just came off "The Hurt Locker" (2008) and I'm thinking of the war and I think it's a deplorable situation. It's a great medium in which to speak about that. This is a war that cannot be won, why are we sending troops over there? Well, the only medium I have, the only opportunity I have, is to use film. There will always be issues I care about.

On the other hand, I believe there's hope, because the breakdown and the repair are happening simultaneously.

I realised that there's a more muscular approach to film-making that I found very inspiring.

My movement from painting to film was a very conscious one.

Films don't cause violence, people do. Violence defines our existence. To shield oneself is more dangerous than trying to reflect it.

Whereas painting is a more rarefied art form, with a limited audience, I recognized film as this extraordinary social tool that could reach tremendous numbers of people.