I think one thing my mother always instilled in me was a sense of individuality. Being an only child, I never thought I had to rely on anyone. I was never afraid to be alone and I was never afraid to be my own person. So when all my friends were like, "Let's smoke weed," I was like, "I'm not doing it." It wasn't because I was trying to be a rebel or because I didn't like it or I was anti-drugs. I just didn't do it because I didn't want to do it, and if I didn't want to do it, I wasn't doing it. That was it.

I would say to any young black , if you get a job and you're asked to work 100%, then you work 125% and don't complain about it. The moment you complain about it, then you don't really want to work. Always do more than you're asked to do and you'll get far in life - and that applies to all youth.

I allowed the actors to have freedom and sometimes change words if they needed to or thought that another word was more current.

I think the British industry is set up to support British film, if we make films that enable them to support it. If you don't make a commercial film, distributors can't get behind it. If they don't get behind it, the film doesn't do well.

'Pulp Fiction' blew my mind; beforehand, I'd watch films and there was a beginning, middle and an end, and that's it. There is in that film, too, but it's out of sequence.

If I'm given the opportunity of writing, directing and acting in the same film I would love to do it again. It's something I don't think that anyone else is doing in the country at this level... not many people are doing it in the world. I think if you check that out and find it's quite accurate, there's only a handful of people that actually are doing 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.