It's important to be true to the events, but the most important thing is to get to the essence of the experience. Not to be bogged down in an academic way by a notion of the truth. First of all, the truth is an illusive and spurious concept.

The problem with the British film industry is the nervousness and insecurity about - and genuflection toward - Los Angeles.

If a film or any piece of work doesn't entertain, it fails - and that is using the word entertain literally, meaning it holds you there and you become absorbed by it so that you don't walk away and get bored and so on.

I hope I make films where you walk away . . . with work to do, arguments to have, things to worry about, things to care about. In that sense, I would regard what I do as political.

The reason my films work is because every actor on set is very secure. They're able to fly.

The main problem is that the Hollywood system has already made the film before the director shoots a single frame.

I don't know what the character is going to be. We sit down and we create a character, and all of the characters in all of my films are made like that.