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.

When you start being enthusiastic about whatever it is you like, that is the golden age for you.

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

There's still a 1950s view of cinema, that there's one audience and they all want to see the same thing.

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.

I think it would be impossible if you had a name like mine not to get a little flack for it.

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