I think everyone who saw Alfred Hitchcock Psycho movie, as I did when I was young, was impacted. The shower scene is nuts. It still is, and I think what's wonderful about it is that it's universal. People understand the darkness and the violence, and it's shocking.

The good thing about the Anvil school of filmmaking was that it was fly by the seat of your pants. There was no safety net.

I went to film school and studied Alfred Hitchcock. I knew of Alma Reville existence, but had no idea really who she was or how influential she was on him. She stayed in the shadows. Go online, and there are hardly any images or film of her. She really stayed out of the limelight on purpose. She didn't want it, and I think that's one of the reasons that she's really lost in the shadows of Hitchcock's history to a degree.

I really relate to outsider characters. Especially the eccentric, lunatic weirdos like Alfred Hitchcock, Viktor Navorski in The Terminal, or the Anvil guys. Everything I've done is about these quite eccentric, exotic outsiders who you might see in a certain light at first, but once you scratch the surface a little, you realize that they're not that different from you. I think there's an element of that which unites.

Whether it's a guy living in an airport like Viktor Navorski in The Terminal, or Anvil in Toronto, or Alfred Hitchcock who's imprisoned by his success; there is a common thread to all these characters. I don't know why I'm particularly drawn to it. It's been pointed out to me, and I don't understand it myself.

I love the idea of creative collaboration. I love the idea of exploring marriages, particularly ones that are in process for a long time.

Being English definitely gave me some insight into these eccentric Brits puttering around Hollywood.