I went to America with a very specific idea of what I wanted to do.

I think what we're trying to do as filmmakers is make a big, gritty, raw, epic movie and within that show things graphically in a way that they haven't been seen in that world before.

I read every screenplay that was being sent to the other directors. None were being sent to me, but I was reading what others were choosing and what the best writers were writing.

I don't love balls and sleeping beauties, that kind of thing. I think the great thing about 'Snow White' is those images have scarred me since I was a child with the Queen, the mirror, the taking of the heart, the huntsman and the enchanted forest.

I'm influenced by a lot of filmmakers; I like English filmmakers because I feel a kin to them.

I mean, you know, sometimes, yeah, you wish for something and you don't get quite what you wish for. But you get something bigger and better.

I think it's possible to make a blockbuster that is actually emotional. They don't need to be mutually exclusive.