When people approach me about my films it is usually to tell me how much they hate them.

When people approach me about my films it is usually to tell me how much they hate them.

You can almost take the book and use it as a script.

A lot of the aspects of the world of the film are amalgams of things that already exist.

The great thing about not having a script is there's nothing you have to shoot that day. When you start filming, you can shoot anything you want. There's no pressure to shoot anything. Whatever interests you that day is what you're shooting. That's a big liberation that makes it more enjoyable and more relaxed. I think if you have that kind of framework it can make it a much more satisfying thing to work on and to watch as well.

If you make a film set in London or in Pakistan or wherever, the thing that interests me is the relationships between individuals - individuals and society, individuals and their family, their girlfriend or boyfriend, it's all the same idea.

From my experience working with comedians, there is that competitive aspect. With actors, for instance, they don't want to look competitive even if they are, whereas comedians, I think, are openly happy to play on the idea that they all compete with each other to get the laughs. There's something about comedy, I think, that encourages that. There's this kind of schoolboy sense of wanting to top the other person that we play off of to show them competing for who's smarter or cleverer.