I'm friends with [David] Fincher. [James] Cameron gives me advice. I know a fair amount of directors who have been through it, and they all felt pretty confident that I would be fine when I got my shot. So their confidence made me feel confident.

I like the little chess match of how people move through space. I'm not comparing myself to Michelangelo with this analogy, but he said when he sculpts it's like finding the sculpture within. It feels that way when you are with actors, too. There's a natural way to do this with a natural language that flows and feels like real people talking. And you've just got to find it. So I enjoy that part of the process.

As a first time director it's interesting, but not all that different from what I did before. A lot of parts of this job seem to be very similar to running a big company.

I'm not afraid to make decisions. One of my friends said... we were talking about movies. It's really just a series of decisions you make. They said, "Tim Miller: frequently wrong, but never in doubt." I don't know that I'm making the right ones, but I'm not afraid to make them. That keeps the train moving forward.

I mean Dark Phoenix series, the way it was done, they didn't do it justice in the past movies, in my personal opinion. I just like the X-Men universe.

Honestly, the most uncomfortable thing for me is my level of incompetence is uncomfortable.

I think people moving through space and the way they say lines, it's a puzzle to be solved every time. But there's a right way to do it that feels natural. And it's just kind of finding that right thing.