I can't always be making "British films". Why should we be making films about corsets and horses and girls learning to drive when Americans send over an event movie and make five or 10 million?

I don't think I'm egotistical, and I know what my limits are: I'm a black guy who's probably losing his hair. But I'm happy to play roles that I'm given, and I'm happy to play roles that I write.

You'll never see me in any of the tabloids because I've made a conscious effort to stay out of that. I'm not interested in fame. I'm interested in hard work and letting my work speak for what I do. I've been in high-profile shows but you don't see stories on me because I don't go out and court them.

Generally, an indie film in the U.K. is put together much like in the states. We got a tax credit. You sell the domestic rights, which can be quite low, but it's enough to push you over the line. And you get a tax credit on top of that, and then you cobble it together with private equity or gap financing and things like that.

I'm a nice guy to anyone I meet, until they show me they don't deserve niceness. I'll turn very quickly. But I'm pretty pleasant overall.

I don't feel that I'm a role model. I'm just me. If people want to look up to me then that's their business. I'm not perfect and I don't consider myself to be a role model. But to be honest, I'd much rather my kids look up to me than look up to some rock star who gets off jail more times than is even funny.

When I wrote 'Kidulthood,' I didn't even know there was going to be a 'Kidulthood.' I just wanted to test myself to see if I could write a script.