I have to get out of bed every day to make something happen.

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

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

It's an unhealthy habit to say that life is what you make of it, and if you want to be happy, then you can be happy. That's just rubbish, basically. Life is about luck and it's about circumstances and socioeconomic conditions and all the rest of it, but you know, you can also make choices. It's about spirit and generosity and all the other things, too.

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

I try and create for the audience something that relates to real-life experience. When you're meeting somebody for the first time, all you have to go on are your preconceptions and your stereotypes and whatever else, but gradually as you get to know them, they change. They become more three-dimensional, and you start to see them in layers.

You can't make a movie about the artist without shooting outdoors.