I'm developing the stuff all the time. There's a film in my head. I'm imagining a film.

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

But films should be voyeuristic. What else is a film if you’re not snooping into somebody else’s lives?

I grew up looking at... going to the movies a lot, as much as they'd let you. I grew up in Manchester in the north of England in the '40s and '50s. I saw a lot of movies. They were all Hollywood and British movies. I didn't see a film that wasn't in English until I was 17 when I went to London to be a student.

When I was young I used to sit in the cinema thinking wouldn't it be great if you could have a film in which the characters were like real people instead of being like actors.

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.

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