The way an actor is trained doesn't ultimately have much bearing on my work. I'm interested in the actor as artist.

I can't negotiate and collaborate with a character to create a distilled dramatic investigation of the raw material. I need to work with an actor. That stuff about actors who stay in character all the time is nonsense.

My work is about life as you and I experience it. You're either lucky or you're not lucky; either your relationship works or it doesn't.

I am very happy to be part of European and world cinema as a British filmmaker.

It creeps up on you and becomes an obsession. It comes out of watching a million movies.

I think Michael Caine is a perfectly good actor but it's obvious he's not going to be in one of my films.

I did sit in cinemas as a kid looking at English and American movies thinking, "Wouldn't it be great if the characters were like real people?" And the worst thing is films are constantly advertising themselves, drawing attention to their style of things. But actually I make films that I think are extremely sophisticated and cinematic. But you don't want the audience thinking about the bloody film. You want them to think about what's going on, and believe in it. Be flies on the wall, you know?