A British villain never loses their sense of humour.

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

I think directors can become overly infatuated by gilt and gold, and the word "lavish" and everything being magnificent.

I decided to be a filmmaker when I was 12. I had utter clarity that this would be my life.

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

I don't even like football.

If you look at Shakespeare's history plays, what the setting of monarchy allows is this extraordinary intensification of emotions and predicament.