The more uncompromisingly specific you are the more you end up touching the bigger universal truths.

Sometimes your body language is enough for an actor to know that you're not happy. And you don't really need to say it out loud if you deal with actors you know very well. And I don't think you really need to be explicit.

In "The King's Speech," patriotism is utterly contained within a historical moment, the third of September, 1939, where the aggressor is clear, the fight is clear, it hasn't become complicated over time.

Actors enjoy being treated as ordinary people.

Films about the English monarchy, they tend to have a lavishness, sumptuous imagery, it's all very posh and rich.

American cinema tends to express a patriotic relationship to national identity on a regular basis.

American movies are often very good at mining those great underlying myths that make films robustly travel across class, age, gender, culture.