When you boil it down, it's all a visual expression. In a sense we are all storytellers through what we wear, who we want to be, how we want people to perceive us. Life, people and the stories they consciously or unconsciously tell inspire me everyday.

When talking with a set designer the dialogue is more centered on locations, interior design, what I like and what doesn't work. There is a certain taste I'm drawn to and feel inspired by, and finding that inspiration is what keeps the conversation moving forward.

I realized that a lot of the great directors that I admire from [Ingmar] Bergman to [Fredrico] Fellini re always shooting, then going into the editing room, and shooting again.

I always think it's interesting to switch genres, because if I read a script and I know exactly how to manifest a story, I don't really want to do it anymore, because I've already done it in my head. It becomes less interesting. If I read something that's challenging, I get really passionate and usually fall in love with it, because I feel I need to do it. I need to tell the story; I need to find a way to make it happen.

The key thing is that you start every film from sort of a blank page, almost like you discover it like a child discovers a new world.

It's important to keep up with technology, to constantly move with it. Striving to do so keeps me alert and creates a sense of fluidity but at the same time I like to distance myself from it. It's key for my process to try and remain outside the bubble.

On Stranger Than Fiction, the script was so good that I stuck to every line because it was just such brilliant writing from Zach Helm that I felt like I really just want to shoot the page.