The first thing that put me on the map was my Sherlock Holmes novel.

I'm mainly interested in people trying to figure s#!t out.

I'm not really interested in the exploding car or endless sort of dystopian fantasies and superheroes. None of that... that doesn't interest me very much.

I never gave my career much strategic thought. Maybe I should have.

The director is a bit analogous to the conductor of a symphony orchestra. It's a collaborative adventure.

But you have to understand what that really did is that it opened these DVDs to be sources of oral history instead of puff pieces for the studio, because people involved with them being in fear of being sued by somebody, so it became another form of movie history. I mean I didn't plan it, but I'm proud that it happened. Which is probably why they didn't interview me for this DVD.

As a writer, you have control of the words you put on the page. But once that manuscript leaves your hand, you give control to the reader. As a director, you are limited by everything: weather, budget, and egos.