I would say L.A. is more polite than London - it's a very careful place. People talk a lot in code.

The irony of a director going to film festivals is you never get to see any of the films.

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

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.

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

I was always obsessed with finding truly researched images to add authenticity, out of that came something totally contemporary and modern. Research is very key to my process because over and over again, reality provides more interesting images than you could have invented.

Actors are programmed to see the worst. If you're talking about an actor's TV series, you say, "I loved you last night." And they go, "What about the week before?" They immediately worry.