Good acting should be invisible. You shouldn't be aware of the acting. It should feel real.

When I was eight years old, I knew I wanted to make films.

Authenticity is what I've always gone after in my work, and I understand what feels emotionally right, instinctively. Working with actors has just come with experience.

I'll never forget the moment when I saw a red light go on, on the camera, and that image translated to the monitor, and then a different light went on and the shot changed, and I went, "Wow, that's how it's done! That's how that gets to my TV! This is what I want to do with my life!" I literally had that moment of epiphany, at eight years old.

Unlike a lot of British directors, I hadn't done any theater. But, I had a great mentor who said, "What you're looking for is exactly the same thing you've done in your documentaries, which is moments of emotional truth.

Good acting should be invisible. You shouldn't be aware of the acting. It should feel real.

I think you have to be scared every morning that you go out to shoot, or you lose your edge. With actors, there has to be that adrenaline and you have to keep challenging yourself, and I certainly challenge myself, as a director.