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

I find that after a screening, people really want to come and tell you what they feel.

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.

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.

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