Sometimes you get involved in a film because you just love making movies and you want to keep working. Sometimes you're lucky enough to find something that you really care about. Therefore, now I'm emphasizing developing my own projects and writing my own screenplays, so that I can do exactly what I like to do.

It proved to be pretty impossible to get funds for a feature film in Finland. It's still small, but the film industry was miniscule at that point in the early '80s.

When I follow my heart, usually the results are good.

I feel like I learned very early on that your heroes are only as powerful as your villains. And I'm attracted to intelligent villains.

I went out to some advertising agencies and asked if I could do anything.

I did some film reviews for small papers in Finland and things like that to be able to keep living here.

I decided that, somehow, I had to get out of there and go to Hollywood. I had never been to America.