I don't get a sense of American pride. I just get a sense that everyone is here, battling the same thing - that around the world everybody's after the same thing, just some minor piece of happiness each day.

My filmmaking education consisted of finding out what filmmakers I liked were watching, then seeing those films. I learned the technical stuff from books and magazines, and with the new technology you can watch entire movies accompanied by audio commentary from the director. You can learn more from John Sturges' audio track on the 'Bad Day at Black Rock' laserdisc than you can in 20 years of film school. Film school is a complete con, because the information is there if you want it.

I'm not really a Sundance baby, but they helped me so much I feel I have to acknowledge it.

I had the standard movie geek childhood, because for as long as I can remember, all I wanted to do was make movies.

We’re all children of Kubrick, aren’t we? Is there anything you can do that he hasn’t done?

No matter how many times you do it, you don't get used to the sadness - for me at least - of coming to the end of a film.

You have to be a brat in order to carve out your parameters, and you have to be a monster to anyone who gets in your way. But sometimes it's difficult to know when that's necessary and when you're just being a baby, throwing your rattle from the cage.