You just never give up, no matter how hard the challenges are, and observe this world with a healthy dose of criticism and don't just follow the herd like somebody else might 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.

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

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 became a real Shell Motor Oil expert, and I did this 25-minute film. It turned out really well and, as a result, they offered me more work and lots of commercials to direct.

There were a lot of people dreaming about making films, and they would finance maybe 6 films a year. Because they were funded by the government, the films sort-of had to deal with serious social issues - and, as a result, nobody went to see those films.

Ford Fairlane was one of those movies that was so much fun to make that it was bound not to be a big hit.