The most honest form of filmmaking is to make a film for yourself.

One does not simply walk into Mordor.

What I love about films is that you can see "King Kong" and you can be affected by it and then you realize that he was just this little guy when he made that fall.

I don’t really like the Hollywood blockbuster bandwagon that exists right now. The industry and the advent of all the technology, has kind of lost its way. It’s become very franchise driven and superhero driven.

Everything is in a script for a reason, and only by being part of a writing team (or writing it yourself), do you really understand the intention of every beat.

I think that's the job of a director really, to sort of funnel all the creativity into one centralized point of being.

You shouldn't think of these movies as being 'The Lord of the Rings.' The Lord of the Rings is, and always will be, a wonderful book - one of the greatest ever written. Any films will only ever be an INTERPRETATION of the book. In this case my interpretation.