I make films because I am endlessly fascinated by people. I'm fascinated immediately to know about the lives that are going on around me. That is what drives me. And that is because everybody matters, everybody is there to be cared about, everybody is interesting and everybody is the potential central character in a story. Judging people is not acceptable.

Independent filmmaking has always been there and it's not to be forgotten.

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.

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

I take no notice of the trends. It has never concerned me at all. My job is to deal with what I want to deal with and reach an audience by doing so.

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

One of the reasons the whole Hollywood way of making films wouldn't work for me is because the way I operate would be anathema to anyone who wants to hold a job down in Beverly Hills.