It always seems that the generation below you is getting worse, which is why I had the worst character in the film Adulthood that said it. I don't remember speaking to my elders like that, because you never remember... actually our generation was quite bad because everyone else always seems worse.

After Kidulthood, I was called in to a meeting and told that I didn't write women very well. I was very annoyed.

I'm always writing, but directing takes priority over everything, unless the acting is a job that lifts that whole brand. If I get a part in a big film with a big director and I was going to direct one of my one films, I would take the former job because that job will only help anything that I then intend to do. I think in the long run, directing is the thing that will outlive everything else. Maybe that and writing.

When I write a project, it might be something that I want to do and then when I look at it, I'm actually like, "I kind of don't want to direct it." I don't know why, I still love it enough for it to be made and to support it, but I don't want to direct it. I just give it to other directors and they do a good job!

What I want to do is make things that I think people want to watch. I'm a film fan, so I think I'm in touch with other film fans and that they might want to watch stuff. The other reason I really don't care is because no matter what you do in life, no matter what you wear, or what you say, people are going to like it or they're not. And that is all. Everything, down to the socks I chose today - people are going to like them or they're not and there's nothing you can do about that.

The BFI recently did a study of the British films that have the most people of color in them in the last 10 years, and in the top 10, three of the films were my films. I've always been a glass-is-half-full person. I've always gone, "If people aren't going to do it, I'm going to do it".

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.