I wonder if I would have been capable of producing anything if I worked in a more conventional way with a prewritten script, because I'm of the procrastinator class.

But actually I make films that I think are extremely sophisticated and cinematic.

I feel very much ideologically, politically if you like, and emotionally part of the European cinema.

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

I do not make films which are prescriptive, and I do not make films that are conclusive. You do not walk out of my films with a clear feeling about what is right and wrong. They're ambivalent. You walk away with work to do. My films are a sort of investigation. They ask questions . . .. Sometimes I hear that some [Hollywood] studio is interested in me. Then they discover that this is the guy who works with no script, that there is no casting discussion, no interference, that I have the final cut, and that does it.

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

Given the choice of Hollywood or poking steel pins in my eyes, I'd prefer steel pins.